


Still Alive

by MistressofYaoi



Series: Still Alive [1]
Category: Transformers - All Media Types, Transformers: Prime
Genre: Drama, M/M, Multi, PTSD, Politics, Transformers Prime - Freeform, alternative universe, mention of rape
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-04-19
Updated: 2017-09-07
Packaged: 2018-03-24 18:02:48
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 17
Words: 27,656
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3778270
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MistressofYaoi/pseuds/MistressofYaoi
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>War is the kind of thing that changes a bot, you just never come out the same bot you were when it all started, this becomes apparent for team prime when a bot from Cybertrons past makes his debut on earth and opens their optics to the truth of the past. The only question is will all of team prime be able to survive the truth? THIS FANFIC WILL NO LONGER BE UPDATED SEE FINAL CHAPTER</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue

Prologue - Joining the Battle

War can break a mech in many a way, to those weak of spark they can lose themselves in war and in the end lose both themselves and their ideals. To others their sparks can grow cold and unfeeling, and though they may still fight for what they believe, what they see in battle will change them forever and they will never be who they were before the war, even the kindest spark must harden to survive and in the end even a pacifist must become a soldier if they are to survive, rule one of Vos self preservation is the key to survival.

"I am a scientist, not a soldier" those were the words uttered the day they parted ways. His friend had chosen his side in this battle and he had chosen his and had left Cybertron after the bombing of Vos. Yes he was running away but there were so many others more capable more qualified to fight than he, he could help others off world. That is how he justified his actions when he left and then the news reached those in space that their home was now nothing more than a dead planet, a planet suck dry by war.

That's when the number of Cybertronian refugees sky rocketed out in the colonies off Cybertron. What had been nothing more than research colonies were soon turned into refugee camps for those with no where else to go and the little energon the researches had for themselves was stretched and diluted to the limit.

Everything was rationed in the beginning but then the infighting began amongst those who had come from the war and between those from different fractions that crossed paths. Autobot or Decepticon even those who had walked away from the war could not put aside their past grudges it seemed and anyway he looked at it he could not run away from this war any longer, there was no where to run to any more except into battle and the current battle ground it seemed was a small blue planet called earth.

Maybe if he went to earth he would be reunited with his friend again, he highly doubted it though. At the beginning of the war his friend had made his choice, and had chosen to side with the Decepticon cause. A cause that was originally found on the ideals of equality for all on Cybertron and not just the elite. It was a cause he himself should have been able to stand behind, but there had always been one thing holding him back, the Decepticon leader himself. There was something unstable and frightening about him. So if he was going to join this war he would have to choose the side of the other. The Autobots, but that in itself had it's own difficulties.

Autobot's do not trust fliers or anyone who originated from the city of Vos. Though it was true many of those in Vos believed in the Decepticon ideals that had been preached by Megatronous in those early days before the war many were weary of the gladiator from Kaon and he was defiantly one of them. Equality was defiantly something he wanted for both elite and worker but the way that the gladiator was going about it just did not sit right with many of them and there was something else that had bothered him right from the first time he saw Megatronous speak.

There was a lust for power in his voice, a cruel coldness in the way he spoke that may have been unnoticeable to others but he saw it right away. This mech should not be given power over the lives of others, this mech was dangerous and once seeing the mech fight in the Pits of Kaon after being dragged there by his friend he was even more scared of this Megatronous. His friend however was in awe at the mechs strength and star stuck, it was the only way to describe how he stared so intently at the silver mech. In a way thinking back now, it was on that day that his friend began to slip away. But joining the Autobots would also cause one other problem for the mech, was he willing to give up his own ideals? For a long time before the war he had began to grow weary and untrustworthy of the council within Iacon. Contrary to popular belief, Vos was not just a city of just soldiers but was also a city of free thinkers, scientists and philosophers.

For these free thinkers within Vos no subject was too taboo to be spoken of and just weeks before Vos was attacked and wiped out the discussion had turned to that of the council and the current the primes. Being the kind to try and learn from the mistakes of the past the discussions also at times would turn towards the original thirteen and even Primus himself. Most were in agreement by that point that something was about to happen of Cybertron and the most pessimistic of them even worried that they may be on the cusp of war and that it was time to choose a side, many of the seekers who had been going to see Megatronous speak were with this group. Others however shared a different opinion.

They believed that this was not their battle to fight and that if they were going to be dragged into a war that was not their own then they should leave Cybertron all together and start a colony elsewhere away from the council and away from the rising tension. Those who voiced this opinion were immediately accused of being cowards to which they responded "Self preservation is the first law of survival, why should we through our sparks away for a battle that is not ours? Why should we care about the welfare of those who don't care for ours?"

It was true that those within Vos and those who came from Vos were never welcomed amongst the other groups on Cybertron, grounders and the less formal bordering on insulting term groundpounders, as they referred to many of the others who did not possess flight just did not understand the inner workings of the minds of those who ruled the skies above. Perhaps it was fear or perhaps it was jealousy, the answer to this unasked question was never really found.

But the questioned that lingered in the back of his processor was this, "The Autobots are all grounders, would they ever really trust him? Or would he be constantly seen as time bomb of a threat waiting for the right time to stab them in the back?" Autobot's were always expecting those from above to betray them because so many of them sided with Megatron. Would they believe that he did not believe in Megatron but also allow him to believe that which the Decepticon's originally stood for? Freedom for all Cybertronians?

It was when he heard something being spoken by a group of Autobot's as he was trying to make up his mind whether he should leave the colony and head to earth or just stay here and watch things deteriorate even further. "Freedom is the right of all sentient beings" it was a quote he had never heard before and when he asked where the quote was from he was told it was something spoken by the Autobot leader Optimus Prime.

In those few moments he made his decision, Skyfire was heading for earth to join the Autobot cause.


	2. First Contact

Chapter 1 – First Contact

It is never easy to keep secrets of any kind, but when you work for a government keeping secrets was just part of the job. When those secrets include giant intelligent alien life forms who happen to be giant robots with destructive power, well it can become a very stressful part of the job.

The number of robot sightings around the country had gone down lately which should have lessened Agent Fowler's stress levels, but just knowing that the Decepticon warship, the Nemesis was somewhere in the earth's atmosphere or orbit still put the man on edge, oh how he wished for the bliss of ignorance of this whole situation.

How was he suppose to relax knowing that such a terrible power could at any moment be turned against his home and country? Even weekends did not feel the same any more. Sure he could sit down at home and relax with a drink and watch the game but just knowing of the existence of the transformers, well it's just one of those things that once you know, everything else just seems so insignificant. It was at times like these he sometimes wished for the days of been stuck with nothing more than paper work and his biggest worry would have been what he was going to pick up for dinner on the way home.

Now it seemed work was never ending and it was something that was sure to get to anyone. So when he got word from his superiors that two robots had been spotted near a fuelling station outside of Omaha fighting it out, his last nerve snapped, and he immediately made the call to team prime from his jet.

"Prime! What in blazers are your people doing out here? We had an agreement! No collateral damage!" he yelled as the Autobot leader himself answered the call. Optimus could not understand the man's anger or what exactly was going on to make him so mad at the team, all of team prime was present there in the silo.

"I'm sorry Agent Fowler, but all Autobots are present and accounted for" the prime stated calmly to the clearly agitated agent on the view screen. Things had been peaceful all week and the team had been spending the afternoon relaxing while they waited for the children to finish in school.

"Then explain to me, why I'm receiving reports of two jumbo size bots mixing it up twenty miles outside of Omaha?" in the back of his mind however confident Fowler may have sounded, knowing that no Autobots were involved in the current situation just made the situation even more deadly. If this was a disagreement between two Decepticons the collateral damage could end up worse than originally estimated. Omaha itself could be wiped off the map completely. Unfortunately the next thing said among the bots made Agent Fowlers stomach churn.

"Decepticons?" questioned the Autobot medic Ratchet gruffly, "There has been a lot of infighting lately, Megatron cannot keep his ranks in line." added Arcee. It was well known among them all that Starscream was still rogue and infighting had been seen with Airachnid and any con she seemed to be partnered up with. It had become quite obvious the Insecticon was not popular among the Decepticon ranks, though it had also been made clear in the past that she held very little loyalty to anyone except herself, perhaps she was only acting the loyal Decepticon in fear of Megatron off lining her spark, a simple case of self preservation and nothing more.

"I'm just arriving on the scene, have a look." Agent Fowlers image then cut out to an image of the fight below, a large maybe dark blue bulky looking flyer was exchanging fire with someone. Well if it was a flier it was most likely a con of some kind so they were most certainly a Decepticon, there were no flyers left on the Autobot side, very few had chosen to side with them at the beginning of the war and the few that did ended up defecting to the Decepticon cause for one reason or another.

"I don't know" commented Optimus, to himself mostly as he did not recognize the mech on the battleground, that being said there was something very familiar about their design that felt very familiar to... "Paint job aside it can't be Skyquake" commented Bulkhead interrupting his the Primes thoughts before turning to Bumblebee with a proud smile aimed right at the scout "You and Optimus pounded him into the ground"

"Before Starscream yanked him back out as some undead terrorcon" Arcee practically spat out the seeker's name as the thought of the Skyquake's terrorcon form brought forth memories of her old partner Cliffjumper. She hugged her servos around herself trying to not break down in front of the rest of the team, it was not the time for tears. Those times had long passed her by and all that seemed to be left was an empty anger towards Starscream that she could only come to terms with when on the battleground. It was Optimus's soothing voice that brought Arcee back to the reality of the moment as she looked back up at the monitor "The question still stands .." "who is his dance partner?" Ratchet finished the statement as the camera on Fowlers jet panned over the other bot on the battlefield.

An immediately recognizable white sword wielding figure was spotted below "By the all spark, it is one of ours" stated Ratchet in awe and worry he knew right away there was going to be a mess to clean up. "Wheeljack" Optimus stated the name on everyone's lips. To which one member of team Prime became ecstatic at the news "Jackie's back!" Bulkhead cheered as he pulled the two closest bots into a hug, the unfortunate victims being Arcee and Bumbleebee.

"I don't care if Abraham Lincoln is back, we need to get a handle on the situation before..." Agent Fowler stopped himself midway through telling the Autobots to calm down there celebrations, "There's something else heading here at high speed!" he yelled before the call went completely silent.

"Agent Fowler? Come in Agent Fowler?!" Ratchet tried reconnecting the call with the government Agent only to pick up some sort of weird interference. He tried scanning the co-ordinates they knew Fowler was at but got the same interference. "This does not make any sense, there's no way Wheeljack or that con has the tech on them to cause this kind of interference" mumbled Ratchet as he continued frantically typing away.

"Do you know what kind of interference it is?" asked Optimus "I know what it looks like..." he trailed off lost in thought, there was just no way it could be what he thought it was. That tech had not been seen since the beginning of the war. He made a conclusion and turned and looked over to Optimus.

"I can open the ground bridge and send you through but I won't have any idea what or who will be waiting for you on the other side."

"Who ever it is they won't stand a chance against Jackie once we hit the battlefield!" growled Bulkhead pounding his fists together, Bumblebee gave an agreeing beep and Arcee just nodded in approval as she readied herself for battle.

"Open the ground bridge Ratchet and get the medical bay ready for our return just in case." Optimus gave his order as the team turned to face the ground bridge, it opening into a swirling vortex of green light.

As they stepped through to the unknown other side of the battlefield that was the fueling station, they quickly spotted Wheeljack taking cover behind his ship and Agent Fowler huddled behind the mech's leg. Both of them were watching the sky above intensely.

The Autobots also looked up in the same direction of them and stared in awe at what was happening above them. Two flying transformers were in a heated dog fight above them, they both shared the same alt mode as it seemed both had opted to scan Agent Fowler's jet. The dark blue one that had been fighting Wheeljack firing like a madman at their opponent. The opponent though the same jet had one very big difference. They were easily twice the size maybe even bigger than the dark blue one and they were not exchanging any return fire, just dodging quite skilfully. The Autobots quickly joined Fowler and Wheeljack behind the Jackhammer. "What is going on up there?" asked Bulkhead not taking his eyes off the acrobatics above their heads.

"What's happening, is that white guy up there saved my life from this idiot" grumbled Fowler as he glared up at Wheeljack. "You were in my line of fire, how was I suppose to know you were not an enemy" replied Wheeljack before continuing "Optimus sir, are you sure there are no seekers on Autobot side?"

"The only seeker on earth is Starscream" replied Bulkhead, "You think that guy up there is a seeker Jackie?" "Look at his flying skills, those my friend are the kind of skills I have only seen in flyers that came out of Vos"

Arcee stopped staring at the sky and turned to Optimus as did Bumblebee "That's impossible, isn't it? There is no one from Vos left. Not after..." she was interrupted by Bumblebee who started beeping frantically pointing to the sky, the big white jet had gone into a nose dive and was heading straight for... "Take Dreadwing out!" cheered Wheeljack.

It happened in less than a second, the white jet shot and Dreadwing made his escape from the battle flying off. "He is not getting off that easily!" growled Wheeljack as he turned and tried to hop into his ship to give chase, "Hold on Jackie wait!" Bulkhead placed a servo on Wheelkjack's shoulder but the white mech pulled away from his friends grasps. "I cannot let this go Bulkhead, that fragging pit spawn killed Seaspray!"

"Killing your opponent will not make the pain go away" came a gentle voice from above as the jet hovered above the group of Autobots. "Identify yourself soldier!" called out Agent Fowler. What came as a reply to the human's request was what sounded like an amused laugh.

The jet began to transform as it came into land, if they thought his alt mode was big well his robot form was even bigger and stood on par with Optimus. He was tall, and he was white except for his red wings, black stomach and red and blue marking found on his chest and arms. He also had bright blue optics and black audio receptors on the side of his head. "I'm afraid I am going to disappoint you...human? Yes I believe that is the correct name of your species." he smiled down at Agent Fowler before turning to face Optimus "I'm afraid I am no soldier sir, what I am is a scientist and you can call me Skyfire."


	3. Refugee of the Stars

The caste system, a system of rules that were in place on Cybertron to prevent chaos and keep peace on the planet. A system of rules that dictated to each what their lot in life was to be. If you had a body that was for construction or mining, then that is what you did. If you were made to fight as a gladiator that is what you did. If you were designed to be used as transport for others that's what you were suppose to do. If Skyfire had followed the laws of the caste system, he would have been nothing more than a transport for others, his large size and compatibility for space travel made him the ideal and perfect candidate for the work of a transporter, but Skyfire had a thirst for knowledge and a love of science.

He wanted to be a scientist and because he had come online in the free thinking society that was Vos before the great war, he was able to feed his hunger for knowledge instead of possibly living the life of a mindless transport bot. Not that there was anything wrong with transport bots, they just were not known for their calculating capabilities or deep conversation skills.

All within Vos knew of the caste system, but many if not all of them disagreed with it. It was this disagreement that was the main cause for the wedge between those in charge within Vos and the Cybertronian Council and it was because of this that Vos was seen as an independent city, though perhaps it might have been more accurate to see them as their own sovereign nation, as they had there own customs and history that was found only within their city and nowhere else upon Cybertron. Even before the beginning of the great war, there was propaganda against Vos and it's free thinking ways. In the eyes of many they were demonized as nothing more than a military group aiming to take over Cybertron. This however was never the wish of those within Vos, their only wish was the same as anyone else on Cybertron, the wish of freedom for all. Till all were one.

Even now standing on earth in front of the Autobots, Skyfire's wish was still the freedom for all Cybertronians; for that is what they all were before they were Autobot or Decepticon. That being said he really did wish that to help this war come to an end that he was making the right choice in helping the Autobots. In the end the choice always came back to one thing, working for someone like Megatron he could never see himself doing so joining the Decepticons would be out of the question as long as he was in charge.

All he could do was smile and just be himself, it had worked for him so far in these many vorns away from Cybertron and away from his home in Vos, still he tried to exhume as much confidence as possible "I'm afraid I am no soldier sir, I am a scientist and you can call me Skyfire" not sure on what was the right etiquette in introducing himself to the Autobot leader he decided to just offer the same polite greeting he offered to all he met through his many travels and extended a black servo for a handshake. 

Both Arcee and Bumbleebee were put off guard by the strangers greeting and readied their own servos on their weapons, Bulkhead just stared as did Agent Fowler and Wheeljack just smiled to himself. He had seen neutral bots before in his own travels and knew they did not know the proper etiquette of those in battle, if anything this made the wrecker wonder why such an obviously skilled flier was not a soldier on the Decepticon side.

"Thank you for your assistance today Skyfire" replied the Prime as he accepted Skyfire's servo into his own. The first thing Skyfire noticed from the Prime was the calm aura the mech seemed to have about him and it was defiantly completely different from the feeling he had felt all those many vorns ago when he had a similar encounter with Megatron, back when he was the gladiator Megatronous. The gladiator had commented on his size and obvious strength something that had always made Skyfire uneasy about himself. He had always been a gentle bot and being told he would make a fine warrior though he knew it was a compliment just never sat well with him, it just went completely against his nature to hurt anyone. 

Now this meeting with Optimus was completely different, there was no bad feelings felt and he felt at ease if not a little embarrassed by the compliment which showed as he brought his other servo up to his face plate trying to hide his embarrassment behind the act of stroking his nose plate. "Please Optimus Prime, I have done nothing worth being thanked for..."

"Nothing? You just saved both me and this idiot from, what was his name again? Dreadwing?" Fowler interrupted the giant bot. 

"I just wish he had accepted my transmission and talked, I thought he might have been a seeker judging by his design. Sadly I think he was younger than he appeared he did not seem to understand the Vosian signal I sent him" commented Skyfire more to himself than anyone else present.

Arcee immediately reached for her weapon as soon as she heard the word 'vosian' and aimed it straight at Skyfire "So you are from Vos, why did you not fly off with your Decepticon buddy?"

Skyfire let out an almost annoyed sigh as he pulled his hand away from his face and turned to kneel down so he was optic to optic with Arcee "So... you are assuming that because I am from Vos I am automatically a Decepticon? I have been a neutral since the beginning of the war and there is no way in the smelting pits of Kaon I will ever join a megalomaniac like Megatronous. I have seen too much energon spilled in this meaningless battle." Optimus looked like he was about to say something but Skyfire simply raised his servo at the Prime silently asking him not to interrupt him as he stood once again at fall height.

"I have come here from a refugee camp codenamed K-2 but funnily enough nicknamed Kaon 2. I have seen too many arrive at our camp damaged and broken both physically and mentally. The most mentally damaged came from the Decepticons in fact many of the ex soldiers there are Decepticons. The horror stories I have heard of what they have suffered from their 'mighty' leader out weigh the damage their sparks and armor have taken on any battle field."

The Autobots just stared in awe and Arcee had lowered her weapon halfway through the speech. It was obvious this bot was not a threat but it did not explain why he was there before them. "Perhaps we should continue this conversation back at the base" stated Optimus. The others all nodded in agreement as Optimus commed Ratchet asking for a returning groundbridge and as it opened the group made their way towards it, though Wheeljack wanted to stay back and move his ship to a safer location and told the bots he would catch up with them later.

As Skyfire made his way through the groundbridge something he had not done since being on Cybertron Arcee turned around while the others were walking through and faced the giant that was Skyfire "Know this, I don't trust you and if you do anything to step out of line I will offline you" she then transformed into her motorcycle mode and sped off. Skyfire was left there momentarily thinking that the two wheeler's paranoia reminded him of another two wheeler he had met on his travels and was wondering if this was a trend for all two wheelers.

Miles away from the sight of the battle a blue jet had come to a frightening conclusion after the battle with Skyfire as he attempted making contact the the Nemesis. He could not transform back into his robot mode, he had attempted to upon landing but had only ended up almost crashing into a cliff face only to take to the sky once again. Had that strange white jet done this to him? And what was that strange coded message the jet had tried to send to him...was that jet the reason he could not transform? This was getting needlessly frustrating but he felt some relief when he found the decepticon ship only for that to turn to dread when the ship began to open fire on him. He tried comming the bridge "Lord Megatron, it's me Dreadwing your humble servant."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> to anyone who has followed this story on ff.net, you will notice there has been a fair amount of editing done in this chapter. I just figured since I was reposting my story I would try and fix as many errors as possible


	4. What makes a con?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thankyou everyone for your support!

Chapter 3 – What makes a Con

It was always the same dream that seemed to haunt him in recharge... of him standing there and watching, because that is all he did that day. He stood there and watched as Vos his home from the time of his very creation burned into oblivion...he watched it burn, it was a sight that still haunted his processor. He did not want to watch it burn but someone stronger than him held him back at that time, his memory was fuzzy about everything else that day, who held him back he could not remember, but he remembered muffled words telling him ''Your still alive and isn't that all that really counts?''

That wasn't all that counted, on that day that white light in his life seem to fade out and it never returned, he could never reach for the stars again and know there would be someone waiting for him to return, those days were gone, he had left before Vos was gone and now that white light had nothing to return to. It was not going to return for him, he wasn't worth returning for not someone weak like him. He had to stay with those who were strong, for his own self preservation.

Thinking of back then... he wished he could have pulled out of that dark grip and flown to the sky's and done something more than just watch those white hot orange and blue flames burn his home down. He could still feel the heat on his face plate every time he closed his optics, it felt cold and wet... wait that wasn't right...

Starscream awoke with a start within the dilapidated husk that was once the Harbinger, he could here the pitter patter of the cold rain and wind outside as another droplet of ice cold water dropped down from the ceiling onto the seekers helm the sensation sending uncomfortable silent shivers throughout his body, he had always hated the cold. Most flyers hated the cold. There was just something about a drop in temperature that put them on edge, perhaps it was because many of them had small body frames but if that was the case why did the larger fliers not like the cold either?

Starscream just stared up at the leak in the ceiling and watched several more droplets fall some of them landing on his frame and he just silently watched the water wash over himself only to the ground below. Descending, falling that is how his mind was feeling, his mind was a muddle with so many different emotions but all that came out of his mouth was a mumbled question that was more a statement than anything else "What am I really doing here Primus?" he knew deep down he could not ask himself why, he knew why.

His tank churned with hunger but the seeker tried to ignore it he had very little energon left and wanted to conserve what he had, and besides it wasn't his tank that was bothering him the most anyway. It was a longing pain within his very spark, a pain that always surfaced whenever the seeker was alone. He ached for company but the last time he had dared take on the company of others he had mistakenly chosen the company of humans that could not be trusted, his now missing T-Cog was proof of that mistake and with that gone he could no longer sneak back aboard the Nemesis as he had been doing to steal energon from the Decepticons.

With his T-Cog gone so was the one last freedom he had left away from the Nemesis, the heavens above were just an empty abyss now. He was grounded and was trying hard to keep his processor grounded as well. Seekers need to fly, they are not just built to fly, there is a deep seeded need in their sparks to fly. Without flight a seeker can lose there very mental stability and he could already feel his own stability beginning to slip between his servos. Was this how it was all going to end?

It had been a month now, a long agonizing month since he had last seen any members of MECH, if he ever got his claws on Silas he would take much pleasure in dissecting that human. Almost as much pleasure as he had taken in off-lining Cliffjumper's very spark with his servers, yes that was a day he would savor. He only wished that one other would be able to hear of the Autobots demise, but she never would.

He couldn't just lie there now that he was awake, Starscream wandered to a nearby opening where he could see the rain and the brilliant night sky, even in this cold wet weather he ached for flight and it felt all the more cruel when he watched a small white flesh creature he had found out online was called an owl fly past the ship and let out a screeching cry, just as it had the night before.

It had taken the better part of an hour after being allowed entry on the Nemesis for Dreadwing to find out from the ships medic, a sleek looking red sport car of a bot named Knockout; why he could not transform out of his vehicle mode. He had apologized profusely to lord Megatron for his disrespectful behavior upon entry because he had not transformed and bowed before the mighty leader. Most of the other cons watching that were not Vehicons or Eradicons came to the same conclusion. This guy was a suck up, the question is would he be a tolerable suck up like Soundwave or a hated one like Airachnid.

"This is most fascinating" exclaimed Knockout with a glimmer of amusement in his red optics as he scanned Dreadwing in the hanger bay. "It would seem that your T-Cog was targeted with a precise hit from a beam of some sort, most likely a Null Ray." he subspaced the scanner and wiped his servo's as he continued with an amused smile "Unfortunately for you there is nothing I can specifically do to help you in vehicle mode, your just going to have to wait till the effect wears off. It really is quite amazing when you think about it, the amount of skill that would be needed for such a precise shot, was it that Autobot medic that did this?"

"Is the medic a flyer?" asked Dreadwing, after all a medic would know the location of a T-Cog on a bot, so the question of whether the medic was a flyer to the other Decepticons was very strange because of the history between Cybertronian flyers and the two factions in this war. So it was no surprise when the question caught the attention of both Soundwave and Megatron who had been standing on the sidelines while Knockout was working.

"There are no flyers among the Autobots" growled out Megatron already growing annoyed with the present situation, the fact that this new arrival could not transform was the least of his problems. The Decepticon leader's mood had been bordering on homicidal recently, first Airachnid had been the catalyst of him losing his valuable second in command, the stupid femme was only lucky the seeker was far too prideful to join up with the Autobots. If he had ended up among team prime then there would have most certainly been one less con on the Nemesis at present. Airachnid herself had been keeping her distance from both Megatron and Soundwave and was currently hiding in the ceiling above the hanger, wanting to get a look at the new con herself but not daring to cross Megatron or Soundwave's paths without any real need to.

"Could it have been Starscream?" asked Breakdown who had been assisting Knockout with his assessment of Dreadwing, which so far had been nothing more than taking notes on the large fliers condition for Knockout to study later. A former trainee in the Autobot wreckers turned Decepticon, Breakdown knew a fair amount on battle strategy though his knowledge was limited to that of ground level battles he had learnt very little about air to air combat, not being able to fly himself he just did not see the point of learning it.

"No it was not Starscream" answered the blue flier immediately; he knew what Starscream looked like. There was not a con in the galaxy that did not know of the infamous second in command and lead air commander of the Decepticons. For as many a story as there were out there of the greatness that was Megatron there was equal gossip on the air ways of the treacherous ways of the second in command, from attempted murder of their very leader to even more disturbing and disgusting stories of the seeker using any means to try and get what he wanted out of the leader. It had been lost eons ago within the gossip as to what was true about him and what was just speculation. The only real truth anyone seemed to know about the seeker was that he seemed to loathe Megatron but at the same time was very loyal to the Decepticon cause and that he was of tiny frame about the size of an average ground based Cybertronian.

"I'm quite certain my opponent was of the shuttle class of fliers, it is rare I must admit to come across a flying opponent that is larger than myself" added the large blue and yellow flier as he tried transforming again his circuits and panels giving a small amount of give and movement, which meant the null rays effect must have been wearing off slowly. "Also there was something really odd about my opponent, before he even made contact with me he sent me a really strange transmission"

This statement caught both Megatron and Soundwave off guard and they seem to share a glance before turning their attention back to the fighter jet. "What kind of transmission?" asked Megatron his curiosity peaked as to why there was not only an Autobot flier flying around that he previously had no knowledge of and why would they send some kind of transmission to one of his most loyal of Decepticons.

"The message was weird, I could not understand it. Maybe it was some sort of code. What it was however I do not know, all I know is that it was sent on a high frequency."

"Inquiry: Still have message?" the static monotone voice surprised nearly everyone in the hanger even the vehicons who had been working in the immediate area looked up in surprise to the sound of the normally silent third in command and communications officer of the ship, there was even a clatter in the ceiling above as a certain insecticon almost lost her footing in shock the sound not unnoticed by certain cons below.

Soundwave's blank visor just stared at Dreadwing and then made a small ping sound as the flier sent the flyer to the third in command and communications officer. The hanger remained silent as it seemed Soundwave went to work analyzing what he had been sent. As he stood there in the middle of the hanger his entire frame instantly stiffened and he turned to Megatron.

"Analyzation complete, Results message is in Vosian"

Megatron saw red, that should have been impossible!


	5. Friendship

Chapter 4 – Friendship

For beings that can live for millions upon millions of years, the act of friendship in of itself can be a difficult thing with other life forms, especially those with a much shorter life expectancy. In his travel though out the galaxies Skyfire has heard stories of organic and inorganic lifeforms who's entire lifespan were only but a flicker of time compared to that of the long life of a Cybertronian. It was because of this that partnerships and friendships alike among Cybertronians were not only valuable assets to ones quality of life but also to their very spark. Something as frivolous as wealth never appealed to one like him, to Skyfire a life lived without the bonds of friendships is a sad and lonely life.

In his spark he always felt rich though, and it was not because of the credits to his name – because there hardly were any to it, no it was because of his friends. It had been because of his friends he had made at the K-2 Research Facility that he had been able to cope with the feeling of loss when he found out about The Great Exodus of Cybertron. The whole ordeal had left him feeling quite numb and lonely, and this was mostly due to the fact that now that everyone had left Cybertron he had no idea where in the universe any of his friends from Vos were, including him.

Over the many vorns however and especially once the refugees began arriving and then creating the slum that would later become known as the rising city of Kaon 2 he would hear whispers of his friend's name among Decepticon and Autobot alike, but most of what he heard he just found too hard to believe. At first he was relieved at just knowing his friend was alive, he was still alive and that brought warmth to his spark and happy coolant leaked from his optics when he did confirm that yes he could one day reunite with his friend.

But the other things he heard, they made his own energon run cold with anger, not at what he had heard but at the fact that these things were being said about his friend. He just did not want to believe it was true, it just could not be true. Stories of a cruel sadistic warrior that played the loyal little lap dog to Megatron and worse... that the seeker had become nothing more than a little entertainment unit to be used at the Decepticon's leaders pleasure and disposal, it just could not be true. His proud friend becoming nothing more than... a.. he did not even want to think the word. That word hurt too much to even think.

Perhaps it was because he had to prove to himself that these rumors were not true and that was why he had made the journey here, maybe a part of him wanted to try and save his friend because of the mech he remembered and not the bot in those stupid rumors. Whatever the case was he had come to earth and now he stood in his friends enemy headquarters, and standing in front of him staring up at him filled with curiosity and excitement was the most peculiar little creature he had seen in a long time.

"Wow you're really big and I bet your really strong, are you a wrecker like Bulkhead and Wheeljack!" and there it happened again another life form assuming he was a fighter just because of his large size. Skyfire couldn't help the annoyed expression on his face, but it slackened slightly at the sight of more of the little creatures coming forward to greet him.

"I can assure you I am no wrecker and I am not a soldier, my name is Skyfire and I am a scientist from..." he began saying in his usual soft spoken voice only to be interrupted by the small creature.

"A scientist? BORING! Does that mean your a grouch like Ratchet?" Skyfire just stared at the girl in disbelief of her lack of manners. She had the attitude of some of the upstart students he had met at the Vos Flight Academy, the kind he never seem to get along with. His annoyance must have been obvious because another one of the creatures stepped forward, a taller one with dark hair.

"Miko! Don't be rude." he scolded the girl but was not mean or rude about it, his voice seemed to be filled with disappointment more than anger and he couldn't help but smile at him. "It's quite alright, it's a reaction I'm used to."

"What do you mean your used to it?" asked a new voice to the conversation, it was the smallest of the creatures who had been talking to the yellow scout Bumblebee. Skyfire knew the back story of that poor bot and was surprised with the bots happy demeanor as he chatted with the smaller creature who seemed to understand the voiceless bot perfectly even though the scout was speaking an old cybertronian tongue rarely used since bots had started using voice modules.

"In a time of war if your not a soldier or a warrior it's quite often assumed that you are either weak or a coward. Weak bot's never get respect and cowards are always hated for their lack of honor. Though it is my opinion that it takes more strength not be antagonized into a fight."

All eyes were on Skyfire and once again he felt worried for a few moments, had he said the wrong thing? His worries were put aside very quickly however as a flash of light from below him caught his attention and he looked down to see the one called Miko appearing to aim a small pink device at him.

"If that's some kind of flash grenade it doesn't work very well" he commented which caused the girl to laugh at him "It's not a weapon it's my phone. I use it to keep in contact with my friends and I also use it to take pictures of all my friends"

"Miko takes pictures of all of us" commented the Autobot named Bulkhead as he made himself comfortable next to Bumblebee. In the mean time Optimus and Arcee were talking to who Skyfire assumed was the Autobot medic Ratchet, more than likely letting the medic know what had happened.

"So who's the big guy?" Ratchet asked Optimus as soon as Skyfire had emerged from the closing groundbridge. "His name is Skyfire and he says he wants to help us end this war"

"Well I don't trust him" grunted Arcee as she watched Skyfire interact with the children, he seemed so gentle with them but what if it was just an act? What if he was waiting for the right moment to take one of them hostage and follow Dreadwing back to the Decepticons?

Then Skyfire made his little speech to the children about scientists being seen as a weak cowards for not wanting to fight. Yeah she could see a flyer as a coward in fact she already knew of one such coward and she did not just not trust that one but hated his very spark.

"You cannot just judge him because of where he is from Arcee" offered the Prime looking solemnly down at the two wheeler, that look always made Arcee feel guilty, but not this time. She could feel it in her spark something was not right about the bot, he was hiding something she was sure of it.

"Where is he from?" asked Ratchet looking at Prime with slight worry mostly due to the usually calm Arcee's reaction to the stranger. "He said he was from Vos"

"You don't mean the independent Seeker city of Vos Optimus? You know the track record of those from that place they all joined the Decepticons after the bombing!" grumbled the medic, "I am well aware of the little known history of Vos, but I also remind you, all those we saw from Vos on the Decepticon side were all warriors or soldiers. We never saw a civilians or scientists from Vos amongst the Decepticons." replied Optimus.

"There were no civilians Optimus, everyone knows Vos was a military state in it's own right. Nothing more than a factory for soldiers!" shouted Arcee loud enough to get the attention of everyone in the base including their guest.

Groundpounder propaganda I can assure you" gritted out Skyfire trying very hard not to lose his temper at the closed mindedness of the two wheeler.

"What did you just call me!" growled Arcee as Optimus grabbed hold of the feisty femmes shoulder, "I'm sure Skyfire's comment was not aimed directly at you and if we ask him he will elaborate on his statement. Right Skyfire?" the Prime asked looking over at said mech very carefully.

Miko and Jack looked on at the argument a little surprised at the sudden outburst from Arcee. Raf walked over to Bumblebee feeling a safer next to his guardian. "Bee, what's a groundpounder?" the scout looked uncomfortable for a few moments and then looked over at Bulkhead for a little help in explaining the situation.

"Groundpounder is a derogatory term flyers used for those on Cybertron who had alt forms that could not fly. It is a word used quite often to degrade and is seen as very offensive to those who cannot fly" finished Bulkhead.

"We have words like that on this planet as well as other words my parents don't like me using. Skyfire seemed so nice why would be use such bad language?" asked Raf looking back over at Skyfire only this time instead of awe it was a look of not quite disappointment but more like confusion.

Skyfire let out a long held in sigh before continuing "'Groundpounder Propaganda' was a term used quite often in discussion circles within Vosian society to describe the misleading propaganda that would be posted and shared amongst Cybertronians outside the city of Vos. We knew how those outside our city viewed us and it was for our own protection that the Sovereign leader of Vos made sure to keep us all safe amongst the hate she knew was outside the city. We were not a military factory we were just a city like any other on Cybertron, though it was true we chose to live separate from the rest of the planet it was because we were never comfortable assimilating with outsiders who wanted to force their beliefs on us."

"Force our beliefs, what do you mean by that Skyfire?" what Skyfire was saying about Vos was very optic opening to the Prime but the last part left him feeling concerned.

"Well for starters in Vos the Sovereign abolished the caste system, we were allowed to choose our own path in life"

"A city on Cybertron without the caste system? It would have been chaos." commented Ratchet.

"I assure you that is what the council would have wanted you to think. Vos was a peaceful city filled with families and sparklings. I worked at the Flight Academy's science department doing research on alternative energy sources to energon"

"You said it was peaceful Skyfire, what happened to change that? Was it the bombing." questioned the Prime

Skyfire let out a long hard and sad sigh and clenched and unclenched his servos before continuing his story "Things were changed long before the bombing of my home I was off planet by that point doing my research at K-2, no things went downhill in Vos when the Sovereign was assassinated by an outsider who was later identified as a groundpounder from Iacon named Cliffjumper."

~to be Continued


	6. A Story For Vos

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A very special shout out to Deadly Kitten for the first review on this site for my story, thankyou very much and thankyou to everyone for the Kudos on my story. Everyone's support is very much appreciated!!

Chapter 5 A Story for Vos

"Your lying, it's not true! Your a lying piece of scrap but what can you expect from someone from Vos!" screamed Arcee with venom as she fell to her knees and began to sob angrily as Bulkhead placed a hand on her back only for it to be swatted away as she continued to uncontrollably sob, how dare he... how dare this... this Vosian sully the name of her former partner with such obvious lies!!!

Skyfire had seen that kind of hatred and denial in the optics of another bot not long after the assassination of the beloved leader of Vos, that bot had not wanted to believe him either when he told them the news. Unlike when seeing his friend cry however Skyfire felt little, if any pity for the Autobot and in one sense felt anger towards the denial, but he kept his cool while the blue Autobot screamed abuse at him it took all his own strength of will not to yell at the two wheeler for denying the truth because it was too painful for her. She was a soldier wasn't she? So dealing with a harsh reality should be something she should be used to.

"I am sure Skyfire would not just say something like this without proof Arcee" stated Optimus not quite glaring at the visitor for upsetting one of his soldiers but at the same time he didn't break optic contact with Skyfire either. Inside the silent confrontation made Skyfire nervous on a certain level, after all this was the current Prime glaring at him.

"If you want evidence I cannot give you that exactly..." the shuttle began his statement earning a hard glare from Arcee as Bulkhead held the femme in place with a strong servo on her shoulder. "But what I do have is the story of how Vos truly fell. A story very few are willing to listen to."

"Because it's nothing but lies!" screeched Arcee thrashing in Bulkhead's slowly loosening grip. As Skyfire watched the blue two wheeler struggle, a sharp pain pulsed through his chest cavity and one thought went through Skyfire's CPU, 'Not Now... he ever so slightly winced, his left servo clenched over his spark chamber and unluckily for the shuttle Ratchet noticed the movement immediately.

"Skyfire, is something wrong with your spark?" asked the Medic as all optics and eyes turned to the white shuttle once more. "I'll be fine... once I have my medicine..." muttered Skyfire softly as he opened a subspace on his arm and pulled out a small vile of glowing blue liquid that looked very similar to energon. Snapping the vile open the shuttle downed the contents coughing then heaving slightly at the bitter taste.

"What was that medicine for Skyfire?" asked Raf his voice filled with worry and concern as the shuttle just stood there silently clenching his servo as the medicine ran it's course through his system.

"Nothing you need to concern yourself with" came the reply almost half an hour later. By this point Arcee was sitting on the other side of the hanger with Bulkhead and Bumblebee watching over her. However the newcomers nonchalant response to his condition did not sit well with Ratchet. "As the chief medical officer I need to know the medical history of all soldi..."

"I am nobodies soldier!" growled Skyfire slamming his fist against a nearby wall and then immediately regretted losing his temper as he saw the children begin to back away from him as well as the Autobot's wearily watch him, both Bumblebee and Bulkhead looking ready to unsheathe their weapons. Fear struck Skyfire in that moment, pure fear of being seen as a monster, his CPU felt overloaded and his head was spinning with fear and guilt. No this wasn't how he was this wasn't how others were supposed to see in him.

"No...I'm not a soldier, I'm a scientist..." Skyfire's just stood there swaying slightly on his pedes side to side as his servos shook. He then surprised everyone in that hanger as tears of coolant began to weep from his optics. "If I was a soldier I could have protected Vos, I could have stayed behind and protected..." everything after that became incoherent to everyone surrounding Skyfire as his processor slipped into Vosian dialect and he continued to mumble and sob to himself in a Cybertronian language none present had ever heard before.

As everyone stood there in stunned silence watching the shuttle pretty much mentally breakdown in front of them, it was the young human Jack who finally spoke up "I think we should listen to Skyfire's story" This caught all of them by surprise especially Arcee who stared at her human partner in disbelief.

Optimus nodded in approval and faced all those standing within the base "We have a duty to protect all life even those we don't know. We cannot deny truth and when an opportunity presents itself to teach us truth we must listen with an open spark" Skyfire seem to come to an understanding with the Prime in those simple words and could not help but smile "You sound just like her..." he seemed to reminisce.

"Who does Optimus remind you of Skyfire?" asked Raf as he made himself comfortable on the couch with Miko and Jack.

"He sounds just like Slipstream use to when she would speak with the citizens of Vos. She was so caring of everyone that called Cybertron home, but she cared about the sparks of Vos the most. The city was so beautiful in it's prime, from the spiraling towers that we all called home to the glistening crystals of the gardens." Skyfire couldn't help but chuckle slightly as he reminisced

"Everyone enjoyed the crystal gardens of Vos, especially the young mechlings, most learned to fly in those gardens gliding from crystal to crystal."

"I was always told Vos was a military state.." commented Bulkhead in surprise in hearing of young sparks playing in Vos. "Though true there was a Military Academy within Vos it was never a military state, Slipstream would never have allowed it. Everyone of Cybertron knew of course of the Military Academy and Flight School... but very few seem to realize there was also an Art Archive, Science Emporium and music hall."

Miko got excited at the thought of music on Cybertron and Bumblebee and Bulkhead's moods seemed to adjust from being weary to fascination then awe as they listened closely to the story, but a question was bubbling beneath Ratchet's processor as he listened.

"You said Vos had a much loved leader, but I do not ever remember there being a representative for Vos on the Council..." he commented

"Vos was ruled by a Sovereign that is why."

"So this Slipstream was like a Queen?" asked Miko looking up at Skyfire.

"I guess it could have been seen that way, she did not agree with how the council chose to rule over Cybertron so chose to keep our city as an independent state."

It was then that Arcee chose to speak up and add her voice to the conversation and story "Why keep separate? What did Vos have to hide?"

"That is a very easy question to answer, the caste system and to protect certain citizens of Vos. Slipstream did not believe in the caste system as far as she was concerned all Cybertronians were equal, no spark worth more or less than the other. She gave those within Vos the choice to choose their own path in life. If I was on-lined outside of Vos I have no doubt I would have been put to work as a transport mech due to my frame type. In fact that was how many shuttles within Vos chose to live, however for as long as I can remember I have had a fascination with both exploration and the fields of science as did my best friend..." Skyfire's voice seem to trail off at the thought of his oldest friend.

"What was being protected in Vos Skyfire?" asked Optimus

"Seekers..." Skyfire sighed sadly "One of the main purposes of the secrecy of Vos was to protect the Seekers. And I must say this now, though all Seekers can fly not all flyers within Vos were Seekers. They were known for there high intelligence and amazing flying ability as well as other abilities some were gifted with which included skills as simple as sound manipulation abilities to more difficult to master abilities including teleportation and the rarest of them were the ones that were protected, the Cityspeakers."

The entire silo went silent, Cityspeakers were just a Cybertronian myth, much like the Metrotitans which it was believed they could speak with. "But that's just a myth, a sparkling story." commented Ratchet.

"Isn't that what many believed of Unicron before the discovery of dark energon?" asked Skyfire looking at Ratchet, "From what I've heard he is quite real."

"How do you know about that?" asked Ratchet

"One of my friends back on K-2 enjoys decrypting Decepticon and Autobot transmissions for fun in his spare time, I'm going to guess that when you arrived at the battle earlier none of your transmissions worked?"

"We had a signal but then it dropped out with due to interference" commented Ratchet

"Good to know it still works then" smiled Skyfire with a slight chuckle in his voice without giving too much information on his friends work.

"Not that all of this is chatter about Seekers and encryptions is fun, but what happened with Vos and if they were soo peaceful why did so many 'Seekers' end up on the Decepticon side?" interrupted Arcee.

"The assassination was the main reason behind that, Slipstream was not just the leader of Vos, but also seeker. Unfortunately one thing you must know about Seeker society as a whole is that they can be very vengeful, to the point of obsession. Many within the community of what's left of Vos's population at this point believe that Megatronous knew of this and also knew of the councils distrust of Vos. He may have not directly involved with the assassination of Slipstream but evidence gathered over many vorns suggests that he did know what the council was planning..."

"Hold up! Are you suggesting what I think you are suggesting?" interrupted Ratchet this time a look of shock on his faceplate, "You cannot be suggesting that..." added Optimus

"That it was the Cybertronian Council that arranged the assassination of Slipstream because they saw her as a threat? I am suggesting just that! It all adds up when you look at the evidence of all the hate and propaganda that the council spread about Vos. They were fighting a losing battle because in the stella cycles before the assassination Slipstream was working towards integration with the other Cybertronian states, she had been working with Iacon in allowing citizens within Vos to travel there to further their own educations. I myself and a friend were both looking forward to continuing our scientific studies there. Then it happened, Cliffjumper was a guest in the city a supposed representative of Iacon and the council and he betrayed his host so greatly..." Skyfire knew at this point there was only one way he could prove what he said was true. He opened up a subspace on his arm and pulled out a cable and walked over to the monitoring station and plugged in the cord.

The Autobots were about to ask what he was doing when a grainy video began to come into focus on the screen. The image was jittery like it was taken directly from someone's optics and they quickly realized it was Skyfire's optics. It looked like a happy celebration in a room filled with happy flyers and it looked like they were waiting for the arrival of someone. As Skyfire looked around the room his eyes came to rest on a regal look purple and turquoise seeker with gentle orange optics. She smiled and discretely waved at Skyfire as she then returned to watching over the room from her seat and in the seat next to her was none other than the former Autobot soldier Cliffjumper. Arcee instantly recognized her partner even if the image was grainy there was no mistaking those horns as his.

The perspective of the video moved skyward as the ceiling above begun to open revealing the night sky of Cybertron and the flyers in the room slowly made there way up into the sky above, but Skyfire had not taken off for the sky above like the others in the room and stayed on the ground as did Slipstream. He scanned the room seeming to look for someone who must have been missing.

"That creation of mine is late again it would seem and to his own party no less" chuckled the leader smiling over at Skyfire, "He most likely lost track of time in the lab again, you know what he can be like milady when he becomes distracted. I will go collect him" the shuttle turned to leave out the door and left but then for some reason when he was halfway down the hallway turned back and headed back to the room he was previously in. As he entered the room a loud scream was heard. I would not be till later that he realized that scream was himself. In the chair where she had been sitting Slipstream was now slumped over, fresh energon seeping from a whole in her chest where her spark should be. The flyers in the sky above were coming back down to find out what was going on only to begin screaming and crying. As the video began to go to static again the sight of Cliffjumper making him escape with a gun equipped with a silencer was the last thing seen before the video finished.

"Is this enough evidence for you?" He then unplugged himself from the console and left the silo heading for the roof leaving the Autobots and there human friends in stun silence.

~to be Continued


	7. Trap Door Spider

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Thankyou everyone for your support. I am so sorry for the large amount of time between updates. Offline life is busy at the moment. Being unemployed doesn't leave one with as much free time as many people would think and I've been working hard towards finding work.

After the assassination of Slipstream, Megatron had made his move. He knew that if he was to topple those hopeless fools that were the senate he would not be talking, the time for talking was over the moment Orion had betrayed him. He had sided with the council and had taken what was rightfully his, the title of Prime!

He needed an army and he knew exactly where he was going to get it. With an army of seekers by his side he would be unstoppable and the council and their precious Prime would fall, he would have Optimus on his knees begging for forgiveness. However it seemed Primus enjoyed tormenting the former Gladiator because when he finally did make it to Vos he did not find the army he wanted, what he found was small number of angry and bitter seekers and other sad miserable flyers.

There was no city of soldiers, Vos was just another city. After the fall of Slipstream a mysterious leader known only to those within the city as 'The Prince' had taken over and refused to see anyone from the outside. It took almost half a vorn of negotiations to get into the city with his forces but even then the new leader of the city refused any audience with the newly forming Decepticons. The only way Megatron had contact with the leader was with a communication officer who like Soundwave had chosen to keep there faceplate hidden behind a visor, it was a strange look for a seeker but they were a strange looking seeker to begin with, a smaller than usual flyer with bright blue and white colouring and the orange visor. It had also been to the best guess of both Soundwave and Megatron that the seeker also used a voice disguiser as there was always a large amount of static in the flyers voice. They were allowed to rest in the city and also allowed refuge away from the councils prying eyes, the view of the council being one of the few things the communication officer let slip that the Decepticons and those within Vos agreed upon.

As the time in Vos wore on however, Megatron saw less and less of the bots of the city and at night ships could be seen leaving Cybertron's atmosphere until eventually all the non seekers that had been seen upon there arrival were gone and all that was left were the seekers, though it seemed the mysterious communications officer was among the last group to leave the planet. The city had become a ghost town, the only place to find life was the Flight Academy where most of the seekers had chosen to permanently move into, only leaving the facility for early morning flights and at night to collect energon rations for the next cycle.

It was at this point that Megatron first met his future second in command Starscream, who had up until that point been helping with the evacuation of all non-military bots including the Prince. He introduced himself as the head of the Air Force and also seemed to show a distaste at the fact that those within the city were running like cowards and seem to show an obvious hatred like Megatron of the council. In the young seeker Megatron saw something he wanted to help grow into what he knew could be a powerful ally but at the same time there was a fire that the growing tyrant wanted to tame and make his own.

Megatron stood lost in these thoughts when Soundwave who was the only other mech in the tyrants private quarters aboard the Nemesis interrupted his thought process.

'Inquiry: Prince of Vos?' he silently sent the message directly to Megatron, choosing not to use his vocalizer again. He still felt bad for losing himself earlier and breaking his vow of silence to his leader in front of all the troops earlier. Soundwave knew there would be some kind of punishment for his outburst earlier and he also knew that his leader would wait it out before he would give that punishment because it was that kind of torture that got to Soundwave the most. Not knowing everything, not knowing where he stood drove the communications officer to near madness.

"You think this new bot to arrive on earth is that cowardice Prince that refused an audience with us on Cybertron and ran away from the conflict? I suppose it is possible but the only way we would know for sure is if STARSCREAM WAS HERE!" the tyrant slammed his servo through a nearby desk, going straight through it and shattering it into sharp pieces that would have cut open the servo of a weaker mech. Soundwave immediately sent a silent message to the vehicon clean up crew to prepare to come clean up and replace the desk upon his order when the meeting was done with. Not earlier no, there was no way he would invite another mech into the room at that moment. Not when Megatron was so clearly nearing an unstable anger. 

The raised voice followed by the loud bang within the closed quarters caught the attention of the spying spider outside the door. Airachnid was curious by nature and also knew that information could be one of the most powerful weapons one could use against an enemy. The right information could even be used as the perfect form of torture to some, she did oh so enjoy tormenting the Autobot Arcee with detailed play by play accounts of the final moments of Tailgate. However over the past few weeks tormenting the Autobot was beginning to lose it's fun, Arcee had become too predictable as of late and predictability of a victim just took the fun out of the game, the thrill out of the hunt it seemed.

Also she was beginning to suspect her welcome amongst her fellow Decepticons had grown stale. She was sick of having to sneak around, especially when it came to bots like Megatron and Soundwave. If this new bot to arrive was somehow connected with that arrogant seeker Starscream, she might have a new game to play and if she could offline this new threat it might win her some points with Megatron, Primus only knew he was waiting for the right slip up to offline her spark. Bots wanting to offline her spark was nothing new of course it had become all too common since the fall of Cybertron and was also why these days she herself had to be careful where in the universe she ended up. She would never openly admit it, but there were mechs out there after her that scared even her. Megatron was one of them.

She leaned back towards the door to try and listen in but the sound of someone bigger than a Vehicon or Eradicon coming alerted to her that her time to spy was up and she skulked off back into the rafters of the roof but stayed close enough to see who was coming.

To her surprise it was the new boy on the ship, that big flyer Dreadwing. He stopped outside Megatron's quarters and looked like he was going to knock and the spider could not help but smirk with glee at the idiocy of the mech. The last time someone had interrupted a private discussion Megatron was having with his third in command had been a poor Vehicon, whether it survived the beating she did not know. Those damn drones all looked the same to her.

"I would advice against that" a voice interrupted her fun, as another bulky bot made it's way towards the door. It was Breakdown, Knockout's little medical assistant and former Wrecker in training and lets not forget now a cyclops because he was dumb enough to be captured by the squishies of this planet. Then again she had to think, hunting down that Silas character could be fun sport one day he had a fascinating mind from what she had seen of him.

"I have an important matter that I must speak with Lord Megatron about at once" spoke the flyer with respect, causing Breakdown to sigh with slight annoyance before continuing, "One thing you will learn quickly on the Nemesis is to stay on the good side of our leader. Never interrupt him when he is in his quarters is the number one rule around here, the last one to interrupt him was a feeble vehicon that not even our medic could repair" You could see cogs of the flyers processor turn behind his optics as he looked at the door one last time before heeding the advice and walking away towards the hanger. "Where are you going?" asked Breakdown.

"I have unfinished business with that wrecker and I always finish what I start" was all he said before he was out of sight.

"This is not going to end well" grumbled Breakdown as he himself headed to the energon storage to get both his and Knockout's rations for the next cycle and something told him he would be seeing the flyer sooner than the flyer might realize it again, only this time in the medical bay with either injuries from the Autobots or their mighty leader for acting on his own.


	8. Truth and Tribulation

A/N Can I just say thank you to everyone for you patience and support. Also this bout of writers block on this chapter has been thoroughly annoying. Mostly annoying because the next couple of chapters are already planned out and I knew what I wanted to do next but this chapter had to happen first of course.

Also I want to give a big thank you to everyone who has supported my other works! It is always wonderful to see your reviews, favourites, follows (and kudos for those following me on archive) 

Chapter 8 – Truth and Tribulation 

The morning sun was beginning to rise over the horizon of the Nevada sky when Wheeljack finally made it to the Autobot base, the wrecker taking care as he piloted the Jackhammer around Jasper wanting to keep out of sight of the local inhabitants below, that being said he had nothing to really worry about when it came to humans with his cloaking device on. The wrecker could not help but let his processor wander back to a time when passing over a city on Cybertron was just as silent and peaceful as the tiny town below. He had always enjoyed the peaceful mornings on Cybertron, waking up to the morning star rising in the sky, drinking his morning energon and listening to the city around him wake and catch up with the day, though being an early riser he always felt that little bit ahead of everyone.

His peaceful reminisce was interrupted however as a large ship flew past him at high speed and almost hit him only to veer out of the way at the last moment. It took but a moment for Wheeljack to realise it was Skyfire leaving the base. He thought it odd at first but a part of his processor concluded that perhaps like himself being a lone wanderer these days the flyer simply did not feel comfortable being cooped up in the base hiding from the locals. 

He landed on the base and made his entrance expecting to see busy Autobots perhaps playing with their human friends, well except for the grumpy medic that always seemed too busy for any fun. As he entered the main area of the base however the sight that was before him left him confused. 

They all just looked so defeated. Arcee punched a wall on the far side of the hanger just as he entered only for her other servo to cover her face in a vein attempt to hide tears of anger, the yellow scout Bumblebee looked sadly at the femme reaching out wanting to comfort her but was held back by Bulkhead who's optics had not left the ground, not even upon Wheeljack's entrance. Ratchet was sitting on the edge of the home made medical berth, on the floor in front of him a bent and broken tool of some kind, and Optimus just stood there beside the medic his optics clouded over seemingly deep in thought.

“You guys look like someone just poisoned your morning energon” commented the Wrecker which caused Bulkhead, Bumblebee and Optimus to look up him. “I just passed the new guy, Skyfire was it... flying off in a rush... is everything....”

“No Jackie everything is not ok.” answered Bulkhead, before walking past his old partner and patting him on the shoulder before making his way up to the roof of the base. Wheeljack looked around the hanger one last time before realising none of the Autobots wanted to talk. 

Had something happened between them and Skyfire? Did the flyer try to hurt them or the humans? He couldn't see any sign of a struggle, the only thing that seemed out of place was one of the screens was full of static on the monitor. It was like something had been jacked in... had the flyer shown them a video or sound file of some kind and if that was the case what had they seen or heard?

Wheeljack found Bulkhead outside sitting on a boulder near his ship. “Mind telling me what's going on Bulk, did Skyfire do something?” Bulkhead just stared at his friend for a long silent moment and ex-venting a held breath before answering.

 

“He didn't do anything bad I guess, just shared some truth about a former team mate we use to have here. When Arcee first arrived on earth she was with another bot with her, a partner.”

Now Wheeljack was not one to follow Autobot gossip and the only partner he knew of Arcee having was a brave Autobot by the name of Tailgate, in fact quite a few of the former wreckers had had their own encounters with the bot, many of them even agreeing he would make an awesome wrecker. An older wrecker by the name of Kup had even approached the white and blue bot to invite him into the wrecker inner circle, something that had rarely happened since the beginning of the war. Tailgate however had politely declined the offer stating he had unfinished business he needed to take care of and did not want to drag the wreckers into it. Looking into that information Kup and Wheeljack had discovered that Tailgate had been in search of a former friend from before the war that had unfortunately joined the Decepticons. If that wasn't bad enough the bot had then one cycle completely disappeared from the Decepticon ranks.

“I thought Tailgate was killed on Cybertron during a Delta Team assignment” answered the wrecker.

“After that Arcee got a new partner, Cliffjumper. They both arrived on earth at the same time...” replied Bulkhead which caused a worried expression to cross Wheeljack's face which caused the larger wrecker to stop mid sentence. “What's wrong Jackie?”

“Scrap it Bulkhead, you should have contacted me...” Wheeljack's voice was filled with disappointment “I knew I shouldn't have left you alone with the Prime, his too much of a soft spark!” growled the white wrecker as he glared at Bulkhead. 

“Whoa Jackie that's my leader your talking about!” Bulkhead glared right back at his friends disrespect of his leader.

“Cliffjumper is a wanted war criminal! If you were still with the wreckers you would have known that information! Doesn't the Prime even do background checks on anyone or is it an open door to anyone? You guys would have been safer letting a Decepticon in your base!!” Wheeljack was standing over Bulkhead at that point until the green wrecker stood up at his full height and glared down at his friend, his optics burning with rage.

“Your going too far Wheeljack, Optimus Prime is a brilliant leader he has saved countless lives!”

To that statement Wheeljack made a disappointed tsk sound as he shrugged his shoulders before replying to Bulkhead “And how many lives have been lost to the hands of Megatron because your precious leader has not had the spark to land that final blow on Megatron and held back?” that one statement made something snap in Bulkhead and he grabbed his friend with one large servo right in the throat and growled “That's not fair Wheeljack and you know it!” Bulkhead clenched his other servo about ready to punch his friend in the face but was interrupted by the sound of the communicator in the Jackhammer going off right behind them.

“Wrecker I know you can hear me, this is Dreadwing. I'm not one to leave things unfinished so meet me at the following co-ordinates in one Joor.” 

Bulkhead's grip on Wheeljack slackened and the white wrecker took the chance to wiggle free from his friend's grip and ran into the Jackhammer and roughly slammed himself down into the drivers seat of the ship.

“You can't go Jackie, it's an obvious trap” there was obvious worry in Bulkhead's vocalizer.

“I can't let this one go Bulkhead, he killed Seaspray...” the reply was cold and distant and it also made it click with Bulkhead why Wheeljack was so obsessed about this one. Bulkhead was Wheeljack's best friend in the wreckers but there were always rumours of something more going on between Wheeljack and Seaspray. Neither bot confirmed the rumours but at the same time neither of them had denied the rumour either. After Wheeljack had gone AWOL Seaspray had disappeared not long after.

With his mind made up Bulkhead sat down in the passenger seat of the Jackhammer. “At least let me call the others for backup, if it is a trap we will need them.”

“Bulkhead have you forgotten, wreckers don't call for backup they...”

“Call for clean-up” the two chuckled the last part in unison as the Jackhammer took off. As Bulkhead laughed with his old friend and partner he could not stop the feeling of dread in his spark and the want to call the rest of team Prime. He had been away from the wreckers for so long now and things were so different with Team Prime. He wished he could show Wheeljack that and he promised himself he would show his friend that when they returned safely from this much needed distraction.

~to be continued


	9. Confrontation

If the two cybertronian warriors standing in the clearing had been human, one might describe the situation as a Mexican stand-off. Both of their servos twitched over their weapons of choice with anticipation for what was about to happen, each mentally calculating the perfect moment to strike as they watched their opponent's movement, waiting for the perfect moment to strike.

Then it happened both warriors firmly grasped their grenades and threw them at their opponent, but the question was who was faster and who would get the upper hand? Wheeljack was just that microsecond faster and that is all it took for him to run through the backlash of smoke from the blast to have his swords drawn and dangerously close to Dreadwings throat. The Decepticon steps back however and dodges the hit from the wrecker and smirks at the wreckers attempt for an upper hand and punches Wheeljack in the face sending him flying and knocked to the ground by the hit. Wheeljack immediately gets up for a counter attack only to see Dreadwing running away from the fight.

“You're a coward Decepticreep!!” yells Wheeljack as he chases after Dreadwing.

Finding the Decepticon at the co-ordinates given had been easy for Wheeljack and Bulkhead and upon spotting the Decepticon in the clearing Wheeljack had landed the Jackhammer a little ways away from the chosen battleground and had told Bulkhead to scout the area for any other Decepticons, after all there was no guarantee the con would come alone as he had stated. It was more likely to assume that that otherwise when dealing with a con.

Now Dreadwing was running in direction that Bulkhead was currently in, the Decepticon would be trapped and this would end easily. Dreadwing was going to pay for what he did to Seaspray and that thought brought a triumphed smile to Wheeljack's faceplate as he ran after the con and into a canyon.

It should have been an easy catch trapping the flyer in the canyon but he didn't notice the blinking lights as he ran in, he didn't at first notice the triumphed smile on the Decepticon's faceplate; through his rage he just did not see it, not till it was too late.

Dreadwing ran to the end of the canyon until he came to a dead end, he looked to the heavens that he could fly away now and get away from the wrecker. A clean escape from the groundpounder, but where was the fun of that?

“It's over Dreadwing you've got no where left to run!” called out Wheeljack and as Dreadwing turned to look to to his eventual flight path only to see the green Autobot lying in waiting, right above one of his planted grenades. His name was Bulkhead if Dreadwing remembered correctly and another former wrecker, oh this was too perfect Primus has smiled on the decepticon.

Bulkhead unsheathed his arm cannons and aimed them at the cons head “Don't even think about it Decepticon, your not going anywhere!” growled the green former wrecker, Bulkhead was already in a foul mood from the news from Skyfire earlier that day and his triggers were itching to scrap a Decepticon.

The decepticon only smiled and turned back to face Wheeljack. “So you think you have me cornered Wrecker?” The positive note in Dreadwing's voice sent a chill down both Wheeljack's and Bulkheads back strut as the decepticon pulled out the control device for his grenades from his subspace.

That is when Wheeljack realised he was surrounded by the blinking lights and more importantly saw the blinking light below Bulkheads pedes.

“BULKHEAD LOOK OUT!!”

But it was too late and the domino effect of one bomb going off after another sounded throughout the canyon, one blast burying Wheeljack under rubble. The last thing Wheeljack saw before it went dark was Bulkhead falling from the cliff and being buried below rumble as well. No how could this happen? He had already lost Seaspray he was not about to lose Bulkhead as well.

As Dreadwing flew away however, he did not notice the giant white transformer bent down within a nearby growth of trees watching the Decepticon leave and taking note of the direction he was flying before making his way over to the rubble and clearing the boulders to get the two Autobots out from under the debris, at least at times like these Skyfire could put his size and strength to a use that did not harm others.

Back at Autobot Base Bumblebee was wondering where Bulkhead had gone off to, he hadn't seen the ex wrecker or Wheeljack for a couple of hours now. At first he figured the two would be above base somewhere, most likely making repairs to the Jackhammer, but when the yellow scout did not find either of them topside or the Jackhammer he began to worry. It was not like Bulkhead to take off suddenly without telling anyone in the team. That being said recently since the original arrival of Wheeljack on Earth, Bumblebee had seen a different side of his green friend, a side that seemed more aggressive and reckless and the scout found himself wondering if these traits were what made a wrecker.

The scout decided to voice (in his own way of course) his concern on their missing conrads to Optimus and Ratchet who were still standing in the area that the bots used as their make shift medical bay.

“His probably gone of somewhere with Wheeljack to blow of some steam.” commented Optimus at the scout to which Bumblebee made a few worried sounds in reply.

“I can understand why you are worried Bumblebee, but after the news we heard earlier... everyone just needs to deal with it in their own way.” came the reply from Optimus as Ratchet made an unamused scoff as he seemed to be doing maintenance work on the makeshift medic bay. “More than likely lead into more trouble.”

It seemed tedious repairs was the way Ratchet had chosen to deal with the news, Optimus still seemed distracted more than likely still deep in thought on what the Autobots next move was. Arcee had not moved from the wall she had propped herself up against hours ago. Only now instead of standing there she was sitting on the ground her knees pulled to her chest and her servos wrapped around her knees, it seemed at some point she had slipped into recharge.

It was when Bumblebee turned and gave a worried look at the femme that the communications console lit up. Optimus and Ratchet made their way to the console and Ratchet was surprised to find it was a high frequency call with a hidden code, something the medic had grown accustomed to when the rogue Decepticon Starscream tried to contact the Autobots, usually looking for help.

That being said Ratchet could not help but he surprised to see Skyfire's face appear on the transmission and Ratchet took note in the back of his processor that this unaligned bot had just contacted the Autobots the same way Starscream had in the past, an unusual coincidence perhaps or something more dangerous? Of this the medic was not sure of yet.

“Hello Skyfire” greeted Optimus.

“I'm sorry to call your base out of the blue Optimus, but I am going to send you some groundbridge co-ordinates. I have just witnessed Wheeljack and Bulkhead in a scuffle with the Decepticon I en counted earlier, I have pulled both of them from the rubble and they have both fallen into stasis lock but are functioning.” with that Skyfire hung up the call and as promised the co ordinates appeared on the screen.

Upon hanging up the call Skyfire transformed back into his jet mode, there was a sense of irony and unease with that. Transforming into a jet still felt unnatural to the shuttle, but being on a planet of which had yet to discover deep space travel he knew his limits for an alt mode were minimal unfortunately.

It did not take long for the scientist to pick of the energon signal of the Decepticon he was following and once in communications range he sent an invite to the con to simply talk. Dreadwing ignored the first message so Skyfire sent a second less welcoming signal. This time Dreadwing did decide to land just outside a shipping harbour and Skyfire also landed and transformed not far from the con and immediately pointed his weapon at the con.

“Now you listen to me very carefully Decepticon unless you want to be permanently stuck in robot mode.” Skyfire's sheer size towered over the con who gave the white shuttle a curious look.

“You do not have the spark Autobot” he growled out

“Now you assume to much of me Decepticon, you assume I'm an Autobot” came Skyfire's cold reply.

This statement caught Dreadwing off guard but also made sense, after all there were no flyers amongst the Autobots. “If your not an Autobot why did you help them before? Why not come to lord Megatron with me earlier?”

“I don't have to answer the question of anyone who follows that megalomaniac!” growled Skyfire.

Dreadwing felt his anger boil as this.. this nobody insulted the might Megatron! He tried to punch Skyfire but the shuttle was unusually quick for a bot of his size and not only dodged the punch but had Dreadwing pinned face down to ground, Skyfire's left knee joint pressing into his backstrut between his wings just hard enough to hold the Decepticon down but not enough to hurt.

“If you have no interest in lord Megatron what do you want?” grumbled Dreadwing as he struggled beneath the shuttle.

“I want you to open a communications relay with the Decepticon's Second in Command right now!” growled Skyfire. He was surprised however at the reaction he got from Dreadwing. Was the Decepticon laughing?

“Why would I open a communication with myself?”

~To Be Continued


	10. Caught in the Crossfire

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Thank you to all my readers and reviewers for your continued support in this story.

Darkness. Peaceful, warm inviting darkness. In dark unconsciousness one does not have to face the pain of the past. One does not have to constantly relive the screams of those left behind or the painful pull on the spark of long forgotten memories trying to crawl their way back to the surface of those dark depths of the spark, maybe that was why there was something warm and inviting about those dark depths? If Wheeljack could he would stay in the blissful darkness but something was pulling him back into the light, he wasn't ready to let go of his spark just yet.

He remembered chasing the Decepticon, yes the Decepticon Dreadwing... The one who had planted that proximity bomb on Seaspray's ship. The proximity bomb that was more than likely supposed to kill both the wreckers in the immediate vicinity, the Decepticon leader more than likely still had a hefty bounty on the heads of wreckers after all the trouble they have caused the Decepticons throughout the war. If it had not been for the modifications Wheeljack had made to the Jackhammer himself he would have not been able to survive the explosion, and on a certain level that made Wheeljack feel justified for all those arguments with Ultra Magnus all those cycles ago, no not cycles it would have been longer than that now.

Ultra Magnus was seemingly obsessed with doing things by the book, for primus sake a wrecker had not past inspection with the leader once for having his Autobot insignia crooked after repair work done after being caught up in an altercation with the most mentally unstable Decepticons they had come across to date at that point. These had not been ordinary ground soldiers, no; these were mechs that enjoyed torturing who they captured. Mentally and physically taking them apart, piece by tiny piece. The wreckers that came back were never the same after that, especially the one Ultra Magnus has singled out. His designation had been Whirl and he was an Autobot that was already teetering on sanity as it was. His mind and body came back from that battle but there was something within his spark that never came back after that mission. Everyone saw it but all Ultra Magnus did was reprimand him for not wearing his insignia at the right angle, was he slagging kidding?

A bot like Ultra Magnus just was not suited to be working with the wreckers and it was a mistake to put a bot like Ultra Magnus in charge, a smarter choice would have been someone with experience on the wrecker battlefield. Someone like Springer or even a veteran like Kup, but no the Prime had chosen his war buddy instead. What annoyed Wheeljack more than anything was how easy the others had rolled over like turbofoxes and listened to the new bot, even after the incident with Whirl they still followed like loyal drones.

Maybe if Bulkhead had been around still then maybe just possibly maybe he could have kept his temper in check around Ultra Magnus. Bulkhead always did help him keep a cool processor but not long after the new leader arrived Bulkhead just up and left out of the blue saying that he wanted to fight alongside Optimus Prime.... he chose the Prime over the Wreckers and that felt like a betrayal to Wheeljack, a betrayal that cut almost too deep. Bulkhead had chosen the easy route of following the Prime and had left his friend behind when he was all but alone amongst his own comrades. Life just wasn't fair for a wrecker, but it was his life and he was not about to go dark just because it had gotten a little harder.

“His vital.....are still weak.....seems to be coming too, come on wake up” it was the voice of the Autobot medic that pulled the blanket of fog and bitter memories away from Wheeljack and his processor and optics rebooted bringing the familiar walls of the Autobot base into focus and sat up more than likely too quickly as his systems began to spin seeking out some sort of equilibrium.

“You bitbrain, do not get up so fast!” growled the medic, choosing to use the Cybertronian equivalent to idiot to curse at the wrecker.

“Go jump in a smelter” growled the white wrecker in response as he closed his optics and rubbed his head between his servos. He was not in the mood to deal with some cranky medic he had to find Bulkhead and track down that Decepticon that more than likely got away after he blacked out.

“Well gee, that's just fine gratitude to the medic that just put your bootleg aft back together.” growled back the Medic with equal rage about ready to smack some sense into the Wrecker but was stopped when Optimus grabbed the medics servo asking him to please calm down as Bulkhead limped over to Wheeljack. Wheeljack noted that the heavy green bot was favouring the left side of his frame and stepping very carefully with his right pede, fresh welding marks on his right knee joint confirmed this thought to Wheeljack, larger frame types were more prone to injuries in there lower half.

“You ok Jackie? You gave us quite a fright when you wouldn't wake up after that rock slide” Bulkhead was shrugging off his own injury just like the old days and trying to look out for Wheeljack, the only difference from those days really was that this was not the old days, all Wheeljack felt from Bulkhead was pity the feeling of camaraderie was no where near as strong as it had once been.

“Rock slide.....?” Wheeljack was lost in thought as it became clear that Dreadwing had gone and got the upper hand on the two wreckers, how could he have been so stupid and fell for such an obvious trap?!?! The look on Wheeljack's face must have spoken so much because it was Optimus who spoke to the wrecker next.

“Dreadwing was not there when we got the call from Skyfire that you two were in trouble. Also Skyfire will be transporting your ship here upon my request which was sent out not long after we found you.”

Wheeljack said nothing and just stared at the floor beneath him, seemingly trying to glare a hole in the ground. He was ashamed of himself for falling into such an obvious trap but was also angry with himself for not only letting the Decepticon escape but also for allowing Bulkhead to get injured.

He was broken from his thoughts however, at the sound of an engine he recognised as Bumblebee pulling up but before he transformed his doors opened and the three children, Wheeljack had to admit the thought of the flesh sparklings there made him uncomfortable. Bringing sparklings around battle ridden soldiers it just did not feel right.

Raf was talking with Bumblebee about his day at school and in turn the yellow bot was telling Raf about his day, Miko came running over to where Bulkhead was by Wheeljack and started asking questions about his injury and what kind of battle he had been in and if he had 'kicked Decepticon Butt'. The oldest of the children Jack looked lost and concerned as he was looking around the base looking for something or someone. He then approached Optimus.

“Hello Optimus, where is Arcee?” he asked the Prime his voice filled with concern. Jack had been worried about Arcee since his mum had come to pick the kids up the night before after the incident with Skyfire. The more Jack thought about it the more he came to realise that maybe if Arcee did not trust Skyfire then maybe there was something about the transformers past that Jack did not understand just yet.

“Arcee has requested to be left alone, the information we were given yesterday was... hard for her.” 

The boy looked sullen after that as well as deep in thought. Jack had become a very close friend he believed to the two wheeler Autobot. He had never seen the side of her he had seen yesterday. She was so bitter and angry, was that what war did to a bot? 

“I would not suggest going looking for her kid.” stated Wheeljack seeing the worried look boys face. “Arcee is my friend, I'm worried about her.”

Wheeljack twisted his neck joint, much like how a human would do to stretch out a muscle in the same area. Wheeljack gave the boy a strange looking before looking directly at Optimus.

“It's a mistake to have such young lives get involved in a war that is not theirs” the base went silent with that statement but none of the bots turned to look at Wheeljack and Bumblebee seemed to usher Raf to come with him down a corridor. The yellow scout had seen Wheeljack act like this once before he had only been a bystander at the time but the wreckers temper was well known by most Autobots.

“But then again, it would seem to me...” 

“Jackie don't...” Wheeljack was cut off by Bulkhead seemingly begging his friend to stop what he was about to say only for Wheeljack to glare at him before continuing. 

“That those in charge don;t put much thought in it as long as their choices don't inconvenience them. I imagine having the humans here are a welcome distraction to what your suppose to be doing here!”

Optimus just stared at the wrecker in disbelief before letting out a long sigh. “Ultra Magnus warned me of your temper Wheeljack, in his time as the leader of the wreckers...”

“Ultra Magnus was not fit to lead the Wreckers!” growled Wheeljack scrunching his servos into tight balls, he wanted to punch something or more specifically someone, he wanted to punch the Prime right in his arrogant faceplate.

Bulkhead put a servo on his friend's shoulder to try and convince him to calm. “Don't you touch me! Don't you dare try to comfort me Bulkhead! You abandoned us, you abandoned the wreckers to follow a leader like him.”

“Optimus answer me this and prove me wrong, but how many times have you been in a position to put an end to Megatron once and for all and just let him go? How many Decepticons have you just let go!” 

Optimus stared into the angry eyes of the wrecker, trying to keep his calm but he knew on a certain level the wrecker was right. He had let countless Decepticons go throughout the war including Megatron only for those he let go to return and take Autobot lives with them. Optimus turned away from Wheeljack and the white wrecker had a twisted smile on his face at that.

“Just as I thought.”

Things were silent in the silo for the next hour, the only sound was the typing of Raf and Ratchet as they worked on upgrading the security for the base while Miko and Jack sat in silence playing the video game on the tv. No one had dared gone near Wheeljack since his outburst, not even Bulkhead who had disappeared out on patrol with Optimus, leaving Ratchet in charge. The medic had said nothing about the outburst but understood why Optimus and Bulkhead needed time away from the base. Bumblebee had also disappeared but was still in the base. Ratchet knew where the scout had gone, he had gone to check on Arcee which he had been doing once every couple of hours and had been giving the two wheeler energon rations.

The silence was broken however by the sound of heavy foot steps. Skyfire had returned with the Jackhammer. As soon as the shuttle had entered and before he even said a word Wheeljack walked straight past everyone and made his way to the ship on the base roof.

The wrecker even didn't get a chance to see the state the flyer was in but Ratchet did when he turned around to greet Skyfire. Skyfire's faceplate was slightly messed up from coughing up energon and his chest plate and arms were covered in scuffs and scrapes. 

“Let me give you the once over Skyfire before you take a more than likely much needed rest, and don't you dare refuse me because you 'are not a soldier'”

Skyfire just chuckled as he approached the medic, but not before sending a silent message to the wrecker that had just left.

Above them all Wheeljack was booting up the Jackhammer hoping to get as far away from the Autobots of earth as quickly as possible. As he waited for the engines Wheeljack noticed that there was a message waiting for him on his console.

He opened the message and gasped at the image inside. It was a picture of Skyfire and next to him was a mech Wheeljack had not seen since the beginning of the war. A scientist turned wrecker by the name of Perceptor. Wheeljack was quick to read the message.

'Wheeljack if you are reading this then my friend Skyfire has kept his promised and passed this message on to you. Please come to the co-ordinates enclosed in this message. You will find me and others here at K-2. This war is more complicated than any of us could have imagined and things are going to be changing very soon. I don't want to lose you my friend in the crossfire of what is to come and if you come here you may be able to help us.'

Wheeljack was in shock, he could have sworn he had read the report of Perceptor dying on the battlefield. Wheeljack still remembered the drinking session he had had with Seaspray and many others, but that image with the message of Perceptor with Skyfire was proof that his friend was still alive. 

Wheeljack did not need to think twice, he punched in the co-ordinates and was off to K-2. He wondered though what Perceptor meant by complicated.

Elsewhere on Earth a seeker was awoken from his recharge by the sound of a console going off. Low on energon Starscream wobbled over to the console wondering who had figured out where he was and how they had managed to get through.

When he answered the call he saw a familiar face on the screen. 

“Greetings winglord Starscream.”

To be continued...


	11. In the Shadows it Hides

Chapter 10 – In the Shadows it Hides

 

The nightly recharges were coming easier and easier it seemed for the seeker. Low on energon all he seemed to want to do for the last few days was sleep. In sleep he felt a warm yet calming familiarity that put his very spark at ease, something he had not felt since before the war. He put the feeling down to a nostalgic delirium brought on by his lack of energon, inability to fly and loneliness from being away from the other Decepticons. Primus help him, he was actually missing the other Decepticons, more than anything it wasn't the company of them he enjoyed but their presence throughout the war had grown so familiar that being without them he did feel alone, a type of Stockhol Syndrome perhaps.

 Here in the bowels of the Harbinger there was no sound of vehicons working on repairs, there was no subtle sound of Soundwave's hidden camera's and drones watching everyone and there was defiantly not the constant yelling of Megatron. That being said it was peaceful when he was comatose in the medbay lying on that gurney. Peaceful, that word left a bitter taste on the seekers glossa. He couldn't help but wonder if he would ever know true peace again and that was the thought that lulled the seeker to sleep early that evening.

 He was awoken however several hours later by the sound of an alarm going off and he instantly panicked. He was in no state to be confronted by anyone hostile. If the Autobot's had found him he had no doubt they would torture and interrogate him, probably use Arcee for the job seeing as she already had a grudge against him because of her attachment to that mudslagger Cliffjumper. If it was the Decepticons he was just as good as dead, unless there was a chance it was just the spiderbot Airachnia. If she was on the run from Megatron (something of which the seeker knew would happen sooner or later) she might try to allign herself with him. He would sooner side with a sleeping god like Unicron before that happened however. He had heard stories of what she had done on countless battlefields and it was enough to send the most disgusting of shivers down his back strut.

 He then came to the realization that the alarm going off was not the proximity alarm, it was the communications console. Starscream had not thought to look it over when he arrived on the Harbinger and had just assumed that like so much else on the abandoned ship it was in a state of disrepair. Feeling light headed from being awoken so suddenly he staggered over to the console but stopped before answering it.

 What if this was some sort of trap?

 What if this call was coming from the Nemesis and it was Soundwave trying to pin point his location? Did the Autobot's have anyone among them that was tech savvy enough to try the same? Did they even have the tech to do such a search for the seeker? He felt himself tremble momentarily and reminded himself of who he was, of what he stood for and shook off that trembling fear and with a slightly shacking servo answered the call.

 “Greetings Winglord Starscream” came a cheery and familiar voice from the seeker's past. He had been a brilliant mind for Vos before the war, gathering and collecting information from outside the city as a cure for his own personal boredom within the city. It was this skill that made Starscream seek him out in finding information on the growing Decepticon movement outside the city and had also helped the Prince of Vos with the mass evacuation of Vos before the bombs fell. He had also been used been used as a go between for the Prince and Megatron before the Prince like the rest of the citizens disappeared.

 “Bitstream, I should have known if anyone would track me down it would be you” Starscream replied with a slight glint of pride in his voice.

 “I'll take that as a compliment then my lord” replied the voice on the other end with an equal sense of pride. “But this is not a social catch up call I am afraid.”

 “I should hope not, I don't need to remind you that we cannot let the other Decepticons find out your location or mine at this point” replied Starscream letting out a tired sigh before the last part of his statement.

 “I highly doubt the Autobots on that planet could track my signal and Soundwave has yet to get into any of my transmissions. I seriously don't see why so many fear his hacking skills, his more hack than hacker in my opinion.” replied Bitstream with a chuckle in his voice. Starscream rolled his optics at that comment, as reliable in his work that Bitstream was he also had a bad habit of carrying on beyond the point needed and tooting his own horn a little loud at times, then again perhaps that was a common trait among seekers because Starscream himself was well aware he had his own moments of this.

 “The reason I am contacting you commander is because Skyfire is gone from K-2, he is no where in the settlement.” at that statement Starscream's very spark went cold.

 “He was acting really strange leading up to the disappearance too. He was spending a lot of time 'training' with Cyclonus in hand to hand combat on top of doing his research with Hotlink and that former Wrecker Perceptor.”

 “Where is Skyfire now?!” demanded Starscream with more anger than concern in his vocaliser.

 “He is there Starscream on that planet you are on. I only got the information from Hotlink and Perceptor earlier this cycle. Apparently he took a message from Perceptor to pass on to someone called Wheeljack, from what I can gather he ended up their from following the wrecker.”

 “Why would he do something like this?” muttered Starscream to himself but it was loud enough for Bitstream to hear over the transmission.

 “I think it has to do with the prewar information on the Senate that I recently discovered. As you know I have been investigating as much about Cybertron's prewar history as possible to try and make sense of everything. I came across some disturbing information a couple of vorns ago, information that shows that the Decepticon revolution was concocted from someone within the Senate that wanted Cybertronian society itself to crumble, an inside job or at least that's what I first thought.”

 “What you are talking about Bitstream sounds like nothing more than crackpot conspiracy theory fear mongering.” replied Starscream.

 “Is it still crackpot info when this information lead me to information about who sent Cliffjumper to Vos to take out Slipstream?” there was a silence that lingered in the air after that statement before Bitstream continued “We always thought the Senate was behind that and that same information has been linked to a conspiracy to start a revolution very similar to that which Megatron led.”

 “So your telling me Megatron is nothing more than a puppet to the Senate? I find that very hard to believe Bitstream. Megatron is the type to manipulate others through fear, his not the type easily manipulated.” 'Believe me I've tried' Starscream added to himself.

 “He was not the puppet. I believe that there was someone beneath him that was feeding him the right information to make him start the rebellion at the right time for this other group to make moves in the shadows of the chaos to bring down Cybertron. To plant paranoia within the ranks and watch the Senate crumble within.”

 “But who is behind it?”

 “I have a few theories that you are not going to like, but I need more time to find more proof Lord Starscream. All I am sure of is that this mystery in the shadows is planning a new move sometime soon. Why I do not know, but it feels like something is changing slowly. Surely you have felt this shift as well?”

 Starscream chose not to answer that question for the moment and instead asked “Skyfire knew all this you have told me correct?”

 “I believe so my Lord.”

 “That is all for now Bitstream. I must ask that you do not contact me through here again. I do not know how much longer I will be here and I don't want you contacting me if I am aboard the Nemesis.”

 “You say if Starscream, does that mean you might...” Bitstream started saying before Starscream cut him off.

 “I have no intention of joining the Autobots at this time, or any time soon” growled Starscream before disconnecting the transmission by smashing his servos down on the control panel.

 No there was no way not after everything that he could just walk in and join the Autobots.

 'What if Skyfire is with them?' asked a voice not in the back of his CPU but from within his spark. Starscream had not doubt that if Skyfire was there on Earth he would be with the Autobots. It made sense that Skyfire would go to them he was always such a soft and caring spark.

 That's why Skyfire had meant so much to him back then. Why he meant so much now, even after all these years of war Skyfire remained that incorruptible light in his past. Starscream feared however that perhaps that light was not so bright any more and that even the incorruptible can be tainted by time and war.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow two updates in one month, what can I say once I sat down to write this particular chapter it kid of almost wrote itself. That being said it could be some time before the next update as I am dealing with some pretty big personal issues offline at the moment. I will try to update as often as possible though. To my readers I thank every one of you for your on going support in this project. It is the support from you guys that keeps me going with this project.


	12. Reflecting Moments

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm not dead! actually I have been very busy the last few months working on my new blog, but that does not mean I have forgotten my fanfic writing, in fact I have so much planned for this story so I hope you continue the ongoing journey of 'Still Alive' and feel free to message me through my twitter or visit my blog all the information for both are on my profile. Now let's continue this story because that is what you are here for!

Chapter 11 – Reflecting Moments

 

“ _You assume I'm an Autobot”_

 

That one statement played over and over again in Dreadwing's processor even now as he sat in his quarter's on the Nemesis. He had asked that even though he had been appointed the new second in command that he did not have Starscream's old quarters. Something in the back of his processor had bothered him about taking the other seekers quarters, it was like a pull in his programming telling him it was not his place to be there. It was coding that had never bothered the flyer before during the war which had him curious as to know what was going on there within himself. It felt like it was part of his loyalty and yet it felt like a loyalty to something that wasn't just Decepticon and that bothered him because he knew he was loyal to the cause and of course to Megatron. Dreadwing decided to distract himself with maintenance on his gun but that was not distracting him from the thoughts going through his processor as he continued running through the events of the day as well as these unwanted thoughts of loyalty to the ex Decepticon flyer, was it something in his long forgotten seeker programming? Of that he was not sure as it had been a long time since the large seeker had been around his own kind.

 

The fight with the white shuttle had ended more or less in a stale mate for the both of them. He kept insisting that Dreadwing give him the information on the location of Starscream. The shuttle's insistence bordered on obsession each time that he refused to give him the information, the more violent and erratic his attacks towards him became and yet at the same time he also came to realise that the shuttle, throughout the entire fight was avoiding anything that would be a fatale blow towards him, something no Autobot he knew would do to a Decepticon soldier. Nothing was making sense since his arrival on earth, this was suppose to be a simple mission of finding out what had happened to his twin and joining the other Decepticons on the front line, but this shuttle confused him for reasons he just did not understand and it was infuriating to say the least.

 

The way the white shuttle flew in their first encounter and then the hand to hand combat skills, no one was that good naturally, well maybe a seeker but the shuttle was clearly not a seeker. To get that kind of training he would have had to have been with the Autobot's or Decepticon's right? There was no way a neutral could get that type of training. He had been told in his own training that neutral bots were strutless cowards that were too scared to enter a battlefield, if this shuttle was a neutral did that mean what he had been told were lies? Dreadwing quickly shook that thought from his processor as such thoughts he knew could be seen as treasonous. The Decepticon higher ups would never lie to those they trained, would they? No he could not let his processor wander on such thoughts.

 

The other thing that was bugging Dreadwing was the shuttle's obsession with finding Starscream, a jilted lover from the seeker's past perhaps? It was not uncommon for a non bonded seeker to have multiple partners. But even if that was the case why come to a battle zone for a lovers tiff? Then again this was Starscream and now that he thought about it, other than rumours about the leader there had been no rumours of the second in command partnering in that way with anyone as those kind of rumours spread like wild fire among the cons, it's why everyone knew the seekers treacherous history with Megatron, but even the bulk of that was hearsay at best and no one had ever confirmed whether the leader had taken the seeker or not. Dreadwing could not see the illustrious leader bedding the second in command why would he? He could have his choice of so many more loyal followers.

 

There was also the small chance that these rumours could have been started by Megatron himself to boost his own ego as it was well known how few seekers there were left and how picky seekers were with who they chose to partner with when with others who were not seekers. Dreadwing had to stop himself from thinking so badly of his leader as that too could be seen as treacherous and he let out a heavy sigh as he went back to cleaning and maintaining his cannon.

 

Elsewhere on the Nemesis, in the medbay to be exact two bots found themselves discussing the newest arrival to the ship Dreadwing. It had been a normal day for Knockout and Breakdown in the medbay with Knockout doing routine repairs and checkups of the vehicons on the ship who were very accident prone when working in the mines and now with the help of Breakdown he was cleaning up equipment.

 

“So what do you think of the newest recruit?” asked Knockout out of interest and his own love of gossip.

 

“He is definitely different to the other seeker we have had around here” was Breakdown's reply though he knew that was not what Knockout was getting at, his red partner was a flirt and he knew his optics were already wandering the moment the flyer transformed into his bot mode, though as much as a flirt his partner was he knew he had nothing to worry about.

 

Knockout chuckled at his reply before continuing “It was strange though when Megatron made him the second in command he refused to take Starscream's old quarters, you think he thinks ol' Screamer is going to make a return or even if we will see him again?”

 

“Knockout don't tell me you actually miss Starscream?” Breakdown looked up from the equipment he was polishing to look his partner in the optic, there was no sign that the statement was a joke which was slightly worrying.

 

“What? It's been kind of boring around here since he left. Things are just way too quiet.”

 

“You two are dangerous when together you know that?” was Breakdown's deadpan response. He could never understand Knockout's relationship with Starscream, whether it was a friendship or just curiosity for the sports car he could never tell. For as loud and brash as Starscream came across there were times that he would see something else in the seeker and he wondered if Knockout had notice it too.

 

In all the years of working with Starscream Breakdown felt he knew just as much now about the seeker as he did when he first met him. For all the rumours there were out there of him, upon meeting and working with him only a few of them seem true but at the end of the day the seeker was a loner something that was unusual for a seeker. The few other seekers he had met in the Decepticon's were very social bots, but Starscream remained standoffish towards everyone except Megatron and occasionally Knockout. There was a temper within Starscream that came out a lot but where that temper and anger stemmed from seemed unclear even when aimed at Megatron.

 

Speaking of the devil Breakdown noticed he was being called over his communicator to speak with their illustrious leader.

 

“We will have to finish this conversation later, it would seem Megatron wants to speak with me and Dreadwing.” this statement caused a look of worry on Knockout's face. The results of Breakdown's last mission staring at the red sports car with a single optic. He did not have to say anything because Breakdown already knew what was going his processor.

 

“Don't worry I'll return in tack, promise Knockout.” and with a smile Breakdown left the medbay to see what it was Megatron wanted.

 

~to be continued

 


	13. Decepticon Standards

Chapter 12 – Decepticon Standards

There had been a strong uneasiness upon the lower decks of the nemesis for some time now, many a vehicon dreaded when their shifts meant they had to work in the bowels of the ship, to put it bluntly vehicons were dropping like flies to use an appropriate human saying for the situation. In the darkness of those corridors the clicking of sharp pedes would be the only warning before a spark would be snuffed out and a quick death was if you were lucky. The spiderbot enjoyed playing with her meals and for a while now had not been taking her rations of energon which meant she was feeding elsewhere, she had been feeding on the warm energon of frightened vehicons to satisfy not only hunger but something more disturbing as well.

No one wanted to be the next victim of her game, being caught in her web and dangled till you processor spun, sharp claws cutting away at you armour until energon began to leak from the wounds, the feel of that femmes glossa against those open wounds as she saviours her prize. Primus why could she not take her ration of energon from a cube like everyone else on the ship, why did she have to be so disturbing in her feeding habits, was it boredom on her behalf because the higher ups had stopped sending her on missions since what had been dubbed by the vehicon crew as 'The Starscream Incident'? 

Living in fear on the battlefield was something one expected in a time of war, but even a foot soldier deserved to feel safe at the very least in the presence of their so called allies, it was getting to a point where they feared the spiderbot more than the temper of Megatron. At least the Decepticon leader took no sexual pleasure in the punishment of the troops, the same could not be said for Airachnid.

One vehicon decided he had had enough of cowering from the spider that haunted their hallways, but he knew he could never stand up against her on his own. No there was no way a lowly foot shoulder could do anything against a monster like her, you had to fight a monster with a monster and that was why 5T3V3 had approached Soundwave earlier that day after his meeting with Megatron in the leaders quarters, it was easy for him to know when they were done as he was part of the cleaning crew this cycle. Soundwave's stoic silent domineer and constant eyes following your every move did creep out the vehicon, but never had the third in command deliberately done harm to any of them other than punishment, and that was by Megatron's orders. This was enough for the vehicon to trust that the third in command would help the rest of them feel safe again.

Soundwave had stared silently at 5T3V3 when the vehicon had approached him. Starting a conversation with Soundwave was always a very one sided affair which is why like his fellow vehicon's 5T3V3 had been shocked upon hearing the cons voice in the hanger; a small part of the lowly vehicon before Soundwave wanted to hear that voice again but knew not to push his luck.

He internally sent a message to Soundwave detailing the Vehicons issue with Airachnid and even gave time stamps and area numbers of well known surveillance spots to the Vehicons for Soundwave to check for proof of the claim. As quickly as the vehicon had approached Soundwave for the exchange of information was over and 5T3V3 returned to his duties of cleaning Megatron's quarters while Soundwave did indeed check the surveillance.

Soundwave had seen a lot of vile acts during the war, torture in interrogation being the highest on that list, especially in the early vorns of the war when on a few occasions they had happened to capture an Autobot Wrecker. What he saw Airachnid doing to the vehicons however made his energon run cold and if he had been a weaker con he would have most likely emptied his tanks at the sight, he did however decide he might op for some high grade later on to numb the queasiness in his tank.

This did however explain one problem he had been investigating lately, a drop in vehicon numbers that did not coincide with battles with Autobots. His first thought had been perhaps a few still loyal to Starscream while the seeker was in charge in Megatron's absence had perhaps gone looking for the seeker. Of course such an action at this time would be seen as treasonous. Soundwave was not sure then if he was relieved that Starscream had no followers on the ship or not, for all the anger the seeker had there was charisma there too. He did know however that this was something that had to be brought to his leaders attention immediately. The spider it seems had just hung herself with the last piece of rope that was around her neck and in Megatron's strong servos, this would be difficult however because he knew that upon her arrival she had attempted to get on the leaders good side in other ways. Megatron had other things to worry about other than such base programming needs and Soundwave knew he would have no interest in interfacing with the spiderbot. Soundwave had even found himself laughing internally when he had upon the spider after she had been turned down. 

The frustration and disappointment had been obvious on her faceplate. She was far from the leaders type. He would not go for some bot that threw themselves at the leader, Megatron enjoyed the chase of such conquests, and against popular belief would never force himself onto another. Rape was one form of torture the leader had strongly forbidden and was punishable by death by the leaders hand. Their had been enough of that atrocity on the streets of Kaon before the war. Though it might not look like it to the Autobots even the Decepticons had limits to their cruelty.

Soundwave did a quick scan of the surveillance system to find out where Megatron was. It seemed he was currently on the main deck talking to someone bowing before him. Soundwave's servos immediately clenched when he saw it was Airachnid talking to the leader. He did not want to know what the spider was planning but he immediately headed to for the main deck with a mission to get the spider away from Megatron as quickly as possible.

Upon entering the main control no one looked away from Airachnid bowing before Megatron asking for a mission to prove herself to the leader. Soundwave glared at the spider behind his mask and silently messaged Megatron who made no change in his demeanour as he internally opened and read the message that included the surveillance footage. For a moment while watching it he seemed in a daze, this moment was not lost on the Spiderbot before him, though she concluded it to him ignoring her.

“My only wish is to serve you and the Decepticon cause” she stated smoothly before standing to leave the deck, not waiting for a reply.

Their was a now obvious drop in tension in the control room from the vehicons as Airachnid left Megatron noted and the news from Soundwave explained this. The leader exhaled his systems slowly before he took a moment to speak with the vehicons present.

“It has been brought to my attention that a vile and despicable act has been taking place on MY ship. Now that this has been brought to my attention it will be doubt with as soon as possible, but know this my soldiers you can recharge and work safely on this ship as long as I am here, Soundwave please summon Breakdown and Dreadwing to my quarters for a mission briefing immediately.”

For all his calm confidence however, the Decepticon leader was worried he had caught this problem quick enough before a fall scale riot among his foot soldiers, he did not need to lose any more fire power or bots at this time, not when the Autobots and their leader so close to his tightening grip.

~to be Continued

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hope you guys enjoyed that update, now I have a question for you readers, would anyone be interested in reading a spin off story of this fic? I've got an idea but I'm not sure if anyone would be interested. The spinoff tells Wheeljack's story after he left in chapter 9.


	14. Trapped in the Past

Chapter 13 – Trapped in the Past

They had done missions like that one so many times before. A simple get in, get the Intel and get out. It did not have to be any different than any other stealth mission before that cycle. The one thing they had not counted on... was a spiderbot, they had never faced an enemy like her before.

A creature that lived for the hunt, a creature that trapped her partner in it's web. By the time Arcee got to Tailgate it was too late. He had been the bait for her in the trap. He yelled at her not to come for him, to get out to the other Autobots. She could never leave her partner alone with that monster, they both had so much to live for. Him more than her she believed at the time.

In the cycles leading up to the mission they had both spoken of their lives briefly, how things were before the war. Arcee's life was nothing special in her mind before the war. She recharged and awoke every cycle and went to her job as a message runner in Iacon. She always thought herself lucky to have come online in the great golden city that was Iacon. He partner Tailgate however had a very different life before the war. 

He had come online in the city of Kaon, where he worked as a cleaner and garbage disposal unit at the great Kaon Gladiator Pits. Upon hearing this Arcee had been shocked because of Tailgate's skill at fighting as well as the fact he had chosen to be an Autobot, most within the city of Kaon had chosen to side with Megatron. Kaon was known by many outside of it as a lawless and dangerous place with dangerous bots and when Arcee had said this to Tailgate he had actually laughed at her.

Tailgate told her stories of his life in Kaon and of his best friend who had become his lover not long before the war, he was apparently very proud of himself because in Tailgate's opinion he had nabbed himself the most handsome of Gladiators as his spark mate, but then he smiled sadly at Arcee. They had never had become bondmates due to Megatron's rise to power and when that happened Kaon sadly became a very dangerous place even for its local citizens. Tailgate's lover had helped smuggle himself and several other non combat bots out of the city to safety and he had promised to come get Tailgate when things calmed down. He never came for Tailgate once Kaon became a ghost town but Tailgate never gave up that he would find his lover again and had decided to train and become a warrior that could stand side by side with his lover. 

Tailgate had someone waiting for him once this war was over there was no way she was going to leave him behind. She ran right into that trap and what she witnessed that cycle still made her sick to this very day. The spiderbot Airachnid torturing Tailgate, cutting him and then forcing herself onto the other bot. The look of pleasure on her face as she snuffed out his spark, the cry of pain and tears on Tailgate's faceplate, no she world never forget, it was an image burned into the back of her optics, on that she tried to bury deep within her processor. It was on that cycle that Arcee swore hatred on all Decepticons.

If Autobot's could awaken from recharge in a cold sweat Arcee would on a regular basis. As she awoke within her private quarters in the Autobot earth base she quickly reached for the rubbish can she always kept nearby as the morning heave of energon came from her tanks and out of her, this only ever happened to her when she was stressed and why she usually tried to avoid having her evening energon rations before recharge. She had hid this from all her comrades, especially Ratchet. 

She knew this sickness was psychological and that if she was found mentally unstable by the medic she would no longer be allowed on missions. Fighting the cons was all she had now, it was the only time she felt useful, no that was not completely right. Jack and the other humans had been a small ray of light or all of them, compared the them they were pure. Untarnished by the cruelty this war had shown all of them. As she let out a tired sigh she heard a knock on the door, it was more than likely Bumblebee coming to check on her again.

As she opened the door she forced a practised tired smile on her face. The scout greeted her with happy beeps and a ration of energon, her tank gargled loudly at the sight of it to which the scout told her she better not be holding back on her rations and to drink every drop.

Everyone here cared for everyone else, they had become her family something she had never felt before the war. Arcee assured Bumblebee she was looking after herself as they stood outside her private quarters and she even forced down some energon for Bee's sake. It burned going down due to the fact she had just emptied her tanks not long ago but she gritted her denture and drank till it was all gone.

“Thanks Bee, I needed that.” She smiled at the scout and he smiled back. As the two of them made there way to the main hanger of the Autobot base they could not help but hear a pair of familiar voices one of the them being Ratchet and the other being the new arrival Skyfire. They did not mean to ease drop on the conversation but Arcee was just not in the mood to see Skyfire at the beginning of her day and upon hearing his voice she froze in place. It was not fear that held the two wheeler back, she was just at a point where she did not know where her feelings towards the shuttle stood. Bumblebee meanwhile chose to just stand by his friend for morale support.

“Looks like Dreadwing did a number on you Skyfire” commented Ratchet as he patched up the giant flyer. Skyfire couldn't help but cringe at the thought of the fight even talking about fighting still made him uncomfortable and Ratchet immediately picked up on the shuttles mood.

“How much combat training have you had Skyfire? I know you said when you arrived that you are not a soldier but...”

The shuttle let out a heavy sigh, something he seemed to do a lot when backed into a corner “When I made my decision to come here I decided since I was coming to the literal front lines of this war, I should get some combat training. I had a friend help me out...” Skyfire was careful with his answer seemingly giving just enough information to try and satisfy the asking mech's curiosity but not enough information to give the full story almost biting his glossa at the end in an attempt not to let anything further slip.

Ratchet was no young sparkling however and and immediately picked up that Skyfire was though being honest was indeed holding back, hiding something even. Maybe it was the war that had caused the medic to become hesitant in believing others outside the team and being one of the older mechs on the team there was an urge within his spark to protect the younger bots within their small group. After the incident with Bumblebee's voice box back on Cybertron he had become even more determined to protect his team mates, prevention was better than a cure. Ratchet chose to step lightly with his next question as to probe the flyer for information without being too obvious about the connections he was making internally about the conversation.

“That frequency you used to contact us yesterday, where did you learn it?” It was a question that had been bugging the medic ever since it happened because it was almost exact to the frequency Starscream had used previously to contact the Autobots.

Ratchet did not know what exactly to expect for an answer to the question but the nostalgic smile he saw caught him off guard. “It was just something some friends and me came up with back in our academy days, it probably seems silly now but we would use the frequency to secretly communicate with each other. It's not like we ever used it to cheat or anything, never had the need to. It was just our little way of keeping our friends close. There were a lot of nasty stuck up seekers at the academy and a lot of us who were more scientific inclined than the more power inclined seekers. I honestly was not expecting it to be compatible with the technology here as it would be considered ancient now so I was surprised when it worked.” During Skyfire's little monologue the medic had finished the patch job and was cleaning his tools looking away from the flyer, if Skyfire had been paying attention he would have seen the sudden look of shock on the medics face when Skyfire said 'friends' but the medic quickly put his neutral expression back on his faceplate.

“You must have had some very clever friends” commented Ratchet hoping his realisation did not come through in his voice. This one statement from Skyfire confirmed what Ratchet had feared from the moment Optimus had said he was from Vos and as much as he hated to admit it perhaps Arcee was right not to trust the shuttle. It was just so hard to fathom but this gentle giant was a 'friend' of Starscream, there was no other way to put these new pieces of the puzzle that was Skyfire together.

Skyfire in the meantime seem to be running a self diagnostic on his repairs and just gave a friendly smile and pattered the medic on the shoulder as he walked away from him and at that moment Arcee and Bumblebee entered the hanger and Ratchet could also here the familiar sound of Optimus and Bulkhead's engines as they entered the base from the outside.

~to be Continued


	15. Line them Up

Line them Up

In light of recent events on the Nemesis one thing had become clear to Megatron, Airachnid was too much of a liability to keep around. He had noticed the change in attitude in his soldier recently that was for sure, but he had put much of that on the disappearance of this second in command. 

He did not understand exactly why, but among the Eradicon soldiers the seeker was admired greatly. The warlord could not really ask himself why, he knew why. For all his treachery at the end of the cycle Starscream was the best flyer in the ranks something he knew the underlings admired, but it was more than that. They almost put the seeker on a pedestal above the other officers something that annoyed the Vehicons that was for sure, their had always been an almost strained working relationship between the ground and air grunt troops. Both would complain about the other being hard to work with; whether it was the Eradicons complaining about the clumsiness of the ground forces or the Vehicons complaining that the Eradicons would constantly snub them and never pulled their weight.

The complaints of the Eradicons being difficult to work with always fell on deaf audio receptors to the second in command as they never gave him trouble or Megatron, now however even the warlord was having issues with the aerial grunt forces they lacked their usual motivation but if they had known about the attacks on the Vehicons it might have explained some of their recent behaviour. 

Airachnid was responsible for the disappearance of Starscream and now with this latest incident it became clear to the warlord, the spiderbot was too much of a liability to keep around and he made this clear when speaking with Dreadwing and Breakdown with Soundwave present to make sure no one was listening in on the meeting currently happening in the most secure quarters on the ship, his own.

You would think being the mighty warlord of the Decepticons that Megatron's personal quarters would be something spectacular but the truth was they were spectacularly boring. A berth to rest on against the wall furthest from the entrance with a single heated blanket and no pillow. A small was rack that was in full view of the berth not even sectioned off and a large desk and chair with data pads scattered on top of the desk. To the untrained eye it was a disorganised mess but there was an order to it that only Megatron and Soundwave seem to understand.

Currently the leader was sitting at the desk, Soundwave standing silently behind his leader silently keeping track of the security outside and making a silent note about the curious spider hiding just outside of the visible camera's view, but not out of view of Soundwave's hidden camera.

Before Megatron stood Dreadwing and Breakdown. Dreadwing stood tall and proud to be before his leader, Breakdown stood at attention as well but the slight twitching of his servo told that he was nervous to once again be before his leader. 

“Dreadwing this will be your chance to prove your loyalty to the Decepticon cause.” the silver mech spoke precisely and to the point, and the flyer replied with a salute and a yes sir. Dreadwing showed the kind of loyalty Megatron liked in a soldier, he had no doubt the bot would get the job done. Breakdown on the other hand...

“As for you Breakdown, I have been very disappointed with you after recent events, take this as a chance to win my favour once again. Fail me this time and I will remove you from the med bay indefinitely is that clear?” 

Breakdown looked shocked and then annoyed at Megatron's statement for a quick moment before looking down at his servos clenching them in frustration and anger, Megatron knew of the relationship between Breakdown and Knockout and knew that this was probably one of the most severe punishments he could give the former wrecker. After what the blue mech had endured at the hands of those humans from MECH, a simple beating would do nothing to the resolve of the bot. If anything it would more than likely push the mech over the edge at this point and he himself might even go AWOL. Megatron was not in the mood to lose any more soldiers that were not disposable Vehicons or Eradicons however, even if he was pushing him close to considering going off and joining Starscream. If anything the only thing really stopping him from leaving the Decepticons at this point was currently cleaning tools in the medbay.

“Answer me Breakdown!” growled Megatron annoyed with the lack of a quick answer from the mech.

“Understood Lord Megatron, I will not fail you again” answered Breakdown as he saluted his leader.

“I am going to send the three of you on an energon scouting mission and I expect only two of you to return. You are not to breath a word of the actual mission outside these quarters and to make sure you don't Soundwave will be monitoring you until you leave. That is all now go get ready!!”

A nervous bow from the two and they quickly left, Dreadwing making his way to the hanger to prepare for the mission and Breakdown to the medical bay to get a quick tune up of his weapons. Once the two left Megatron stood from behind the desk stretching his joints as he did so before picking up a data pad with an image of Skyfire taken from Dreadwing's memory banks. Megatron stared momentary at the image, it was a face he had definitely seen before perhaps in the crowds back on Cybertron. 

“Please tell me you at least have some information on this mystery flyer and his message to Dreadwing” the warlord asked Soundwave who quickly responded with a sad face appearing on his 'face' followed by a question mark.

“We will need to get Starscream back in our ranks before he is able to make contact with this flyer that much is clear, he is the only Decepticon we have that was fluent in Vosian. As much as I hate to admit it we are running out of capable soldiers here and for all his back stabbing and betrayal he is the best we got when it comes to aerial support.”

Soundwave responded by pulling up an image of Dreadwing on his face.

“Dreadwing is at best a loyal foot soldier, if he was a true seeker he might be more useful. He lacks the intelligence I need in a second in command, he is also still very young and naive to this war.” Megatron let out an almost nostalgic sigh before continuing “Right now all he can see is vengeance for his fallen twin. I can mould that hatred and determination into a good soldier but that will take time we do not at this point have.” the warlord growled out the last part of that sentence, this war had gone for far too long already. It needed to come to an end soon, on the horizon was extinction of there own numbers were at their limit and old sparks are not going to last much longer.

Soundwave just stared at his leader before pulling up another image to show the warlord. This was of a tall purple mech with a single glowing red eye, this was Shockwave one of the best scientists at the warlord's disposal. Shockwave would indeed have made an excellent second in command with more loyalty and intelligence than any other Decepticon. It was just a shame he had gone missing during an Autobot raid on one of there older bases back when they were trying to reverse engineer space bridge technology.

“We still do not know the location of our missing scientist, though at the same time we have not found any proof of his demise either. If anything he is probably in hiding still working on 'that' project, he will show himself when he knows he is needed. That one has proven himself a survivor on more than one occasion.”

Soundwave just stared blankly at his leader after removing the image of Shockwave from his screen. 

~To Be Continued

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And welcome back to 'Still Alive' thankyou for reading the latest chapter. Keep a look out for updates from Wheeljack's side story 'Heroes of the Fall' and if you want a little extra yaoi action well I'm working on a collection of bonus chapters that I will be posting separate to this main story simply titled 'Still Alive: The Bonus Chapters'. These will be explicit and the first one will be Breakdown and Knockout.


	16. Bonus Chapter - Partners, Always

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author's Note: been a while hasn't it my readers? Sorry about that after the move last year I lost track of the notepad I had all the plans for this fic written down in and now I have come to the conclusion that it is lost. This story is now exclusive to Archive of Our Own from this point on as well and to apologize for the long hiatus I wrote this special chapter!

Bonus Chapter – Partners, Always

Knockout picked up that something was wrong with Breakdown the moment his partner entered the med bay. The blue mech had just returned from a meeting with Megatron which always put the blue mech on edge, but it was beyond that. There had been an intangible distance between the two of them since Breakdown had lost his right optic and the whole situation had put a strain on their personal relationship. He hated feeling this distance with his Conjunx Endura, it made him as a partner feel useless to Breakdown. Knockout had offered to replace his missing optic to help Breakdown but he had flat out refused the help from him stating that he just wanted the wound patched because he wanted a constant reminder of the failure he was to himself and the Decepticon cause. Ever since then the pair had been on edge, nonchalant banter and gossip was all they ever seem to speak about. 

From an outsider's perspective they had a good working relationship which was the visage they had to keep while working on the Nemesis. Decepticons were not allowed to be bonded as it made them in Megatron's optics far too emotional on the battlefield, the occasional interface was allowed as it helped keep a good morale among the soldiers, but a bond was forbidden. They had been very careful to make sure none of the other Cons knew what was really going on between the two, though Knockout had to admit to himself he had a feeling that Starscream might have picked up on something between the two. It's not that he ever outwardly stated it to Knockout that he knew or had his suspicions but certain orders he gave the two and small moments he let the two be alone together made the red medic wonder if the seeker knew something. 

In the last couple of months however Knockout found himself wondering. did Breakdown even care about him any more? Time after time he would reach out to Breakdown to comfort him and time after time he was pushed away. They both worked in the same med bay, shared the same sleeping quarters even a berth though that was happening less often as their sleep schedules were out of sync. Knockout felt more alone when Breakdown was with him than when he was working in the med bay by himself. Completely lost in thought and not paying attention to what he was doing before it was almost too late, the circular saw he was cleaning turned on in his servo almost slicing his digits clean off. Fast reflexes from all the decades being a medic had him dropping it to the ground with a loud thud that echoed throughout the med bay. Knockout cursed the stupid thing but more so himself, before running into the med bays private wash rack to get his personal welder to weld the wound shut before it would leave a permanent scar on his finish or more importantly turn into an infection that could permanently have an effect on his servos, because for a medics servos were their lively hood. A great cybertronian surgeon had told him that back when he was training in the medical field.

Breakdown himself was not blind to what Knockout was going through, like all those bonded he could feel the pain from his partner, though somewhere in his own processor he had justified the distance as a way to protect Knockout. Being a former Wrecker, Breakdown had seen many sights and even done things he regretted more than what he had done as a Decepticon, which just justified his decision more to leave the Wreckers to pursue Knockout romantically even more, hard to believe it now, a young Wrecker recruit leaving the cause because he fell for a pretty Decepticon prisoner. He knew the Decepticons were not perfect in any way but a part of him wanted to protect Knockout from what did happen on and off the battle field. His biggest fear however was how Knockout would cope if anything ever happened to himself when out on the battlefield and he got to see what he feared in Knockout when he had escaped Mech. Breakdown had never seen Knockout so filled with anger, he was livid with rage towards the humans. That anger however hid Knockout's true feelings on the situation. 

Those true feelings flowed into Breakdown the moment he stepped ped on the Nemesis. Heavy painful sadness and despair like which he had never felt before and then relief that was tainted by a fear of feeling that pain again. He never wanted to cause Knockout that pain again and if he did, he deserved to have his own spark snuffed out. It would just be easier for both of them if Breakdown kept his distance and just slowly moved further and further away from Knockout, then when that cycle came that he would lose his spark then he would not hurt Knockout nearly as much. Even now he could feel that pain from Knockout through the bond and it was driving him crazy to deny his partner the comfort they both craved.

Just as he looked up at the red medic, said medic dropped the tool he had been cleaning onto the floor and rushed into the wash racks cursing under his breath, his voice filled with frustration and out of concern for his partner Breakdown followed behind but stopped at the door before going in. He did not know what he wanted in that moment, if he entered the wash racks he knew he would want to just hold Knockout and assure him everything was ok, it's what one did when their Conjunx Endura was in pain, but that would just cause more pain in the long run. Was he wrong to distance himself from his partner? Was his fear of causing Knockout more pain actually in fact causing that which he was trying so hard to avoid. For the first time in a while he opened the bond between them.

Knockout stared down at his servo as he reached out his other for the tool needed to fix the small cut but stopped himself when he felt a familiar warmth from within his spark, a longing he had not felt for a long while and he almost collapsed there in front of the sink in shock. Was this really Breakdown he could feel? Why was there so much hesitation there as his partner reached out to him? He could not understand why his partner insisted on keeping his distance from him and he could not help the tears that welled up in his optics as he felt Breakdown's familiar presence and in that moment he did collapse to the ground on his knees. It hurt so much. So close and yet so far. He could not take it any more and threw the welder to the floor the smashing of the tool echoing throughout the otherwise silent wash rack. “Dammit Breakdown why do you have to torture me so much!” he practically screamed at the closed door before it opened and his partner came running in and pulled Knockout into a tight embrace.

Knockout wiggled himself out of the embrace, only to turn around and face Breakdown before pulling his partner into a heated kiss. Cooling fans quickly began to buzz between the two of them as the kiss became very passionate very quickly, Knockout's body practically rubbing against Breakdown's chassis begging for attention and Breakdown was more than happy to comply to his partners wishes, planting gentle kisses down the medics body. Each kiss was searing heat to the medic and the moans escaping from him grew louder as Breakdown continued kissing and gently petting all the right spots on Knockout's frame. Breakdown would not have stopped his onslaught but as soon as he looked up at Knockout's face all he saw were the tears falling from his partners optics and in between moans Knockout only asked “Why? Why do you hurt me so much Breakdown?” Those words froze Breakdown as soon as he heard them and he broke eye contact with his partner turning his head away. Clenching his servos he fought the want to run he did not know what to do, or how to answer that question. A gentle servo on his faceplate however brought him out of his daze and he opened his one good optic and looked down at Knockout.

“Your hurting just as much as me, and yet.... instead of coming to me to comfort you, you just push me away. Have I done something wrong Breakdown?” Knockout's voice was barely a whisper as the tears continued to flow down his face. 'No, please don't cry' was all that went through Breakdown's mind as he listened to Knockout lay his spark out in front of him and in that moment Breakdown realised just how much of an idiot he had been. He brought a servo up to Knockout's faceplate and gently wiped the tears away. “Knockout you have done nothing wrong, I realise now what an idiot I have been. I did not want you to hurt if anything happened to me again. I thought if I ignored you, you would give up on me and move on, so that way when something did happen to me you would not hurt as much...” the former Wrecker did not get a chance to finish his train of thought as Knockout punched him right in his faceplate knocking the larger mech onto his back in front of Knockout. Normally Knockout would in no way be able to knock him out, but that punch caught his by so much surprise that he fell back on instinct and as he looked up at Knockout in shock all Breakdown saw in that moment was rage.

“You slag for brains! Whatever made you think I would be better off without you?” Knockout glared down at Breakdown as he stood menacingly over the other mech.

“When I returned..” Breakdown let out a sigh, he did not even realise he was holding his intake valves in until he released them before continuing, his voice barely a whisper “When I returned after being captured by those humans, I felt it. I felt your anger, your sadness, your fear and your pain. It was my fault you felt all that. I hurt you and I was so scared I was going to hurt you again.” Breakdown had never found it easy to express his emotions, he had always been taught to hold everything in. Emotions were weakness and this was something many of the Decepticons believed “So I just thought it would be easier, to leave you alone and that maybe after a while you would just stop caring about me so that I wouldn't hurt you again. We both know I am not as strong as I use to be, I am growing older and weaker with every battle. You don't need someone like me weighing you down Knockout.” Breakdown did know when during his little speech he had started crying but he felt a droplet fall from his face and land on his servo that was on the ground in front of him, in that moment he had never felt more vulnerable or weak. He had stood toe to toe with some of the most dangerous Autobots and Decepticons on the battlefield, but the fear in those moments could not compare with how he felt there in front of Knockout.

“Breakdown, look at me” was Knockout's reply and as Breakdown looked up he was greeted with the sight of his partner standing above him, chest opening and his spark on full display, “This spark is not complete without you Breakdown. I don't care how old or slow you become. We made a promise to stick by each other and it is a promise I plan to keep.” Breakdown could feel his own spark begging for release as Knockout leaned down towards his partner, his lover, his Conjunx Endura. When there sparks made contact it was pure bliss for both Decepticons and just being in such direct present of each other was enough to make each their systems to go completely haywire. They sat there on that wash room floor in an embrace, neither wanted the moment to end.

~to be continued


	17. A special message and thankyou to all the fans of this story

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> a message from the author

Two years ago I started this fanfiction and a lot has happened since then and i would also like to think that in that time my writing has improved. It is because of this and also for the fact that in the process of moving house I have lost all the planning for this fic (almost three years of plot outlines character profiles and such) that I have decided to begin rewriting and planning this fanfiction. This started as a passion project because of how much I love so many transformers characters and also because I love Transformers Prime so much and without all my planning papers for the story I am unable to continue on with the intended plot of this story. I hope my followers can understand this, but do not worry the rewrite of this should begin appearing online by mid November. Again I want to give a big thankyou to all those who are fans of this story, to all those who have encouraged me and I do hope you will continue to support Still Alive in the future.


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